Delivery drivers on strike
Workers from VW logistics service provider demand increased benefits
ABOUT 50 employees of a Volkswagen SA logistics service provider have declared a strike over staff benefits and alleged nepotism.
The CAT-WWL Logistics employees, who claim to be part of a staff complement of 120, staged a peaceful protest outside the company’s vehicle storage premises in Uitenhage yesterday.
The industrial action, which started on Tuesday, has not affected the carmaker’s operations.
CAT-WWL Logistics was first awarded a three-year contract to manage the distribution of about 150 000 of VWSA’s vehicles in 2007 in a deal that, at the time, was considered to be one of the biggest factory-to-dealer logistics contracts granted in the country.
The group of uniformed strikers protested outside the company’s premises yesterday, while police were seen monitoring the situation from behind the closed gates.
According to the strikers, the company had locked out workers involved in the dispute since yesterday.
Employees, who operate as drivers, said that, through their union, the National Union of Metal Workers of SA (Numsa), they had received permission from the labour courts to strike.
Their key demands include that the company provide a travel allowance for them to travel to and from work each day.
The employees are also demanding that they be given fair and equal treatment when applying for vacancies.
A Numsa representative, who was consulting the workers yesterday, refused to speak to The Herald.
Making it clear that he was not talking on behalf of the union, employee Dumani Bonani, 34, said they wanted a transport allowance because of the long distances they had to travel to work and back.
“We are also demanding equal pay for equal work and that we get a fair chance to get other jobs they advertise in the company,” Bonani said.
“We find that they advertise a position, but they have actually already filled that position, so they are not really considering anyone else. We think there is nepotism happening.”
Bonani said the strike would continue and would be dependent on negotiations between the union and the company.
He said the company had sourced replacement drivers to be able to continue its operations and that “we have not interfered with them [replacement drivers] in any way”.
The company refused to allow access onto the premises to speak to management and referred inquiries to its Durban office, where Faheem Hoosen, to whom the The Herald was directed, did not answer or return calls.
VWSA spokesman Matt Gennrich said yesterday the company’s vehicle collection and deliveries were carrying on as normal.