Satawu to retrench 100 workers

More than 100 SA Transport & Allied Workers Union (Satawu) workers are being retrenched as the jobs bloodbath continues unabated in SA.

Of those to soon lose their jobs, 30 are believed to be from the Eastern Cape.

The union has confirmed it will soon embark on the retrenchment process, halving its workforce.

Union deputy secretary Anele Kiet confirmed the impending retrenchments on Thursday.

He attributed the job losses to a number of factors, including factionalism that had led to three splinter unions, the impact of Covid-19 and dwindling subscriptions over the years.

He said their membership had shrunk from more than 220,000 members nationally to 90,000.

Kiet said membership figures had been plunging since 2013 when unions started to break away, “but the leadership has been in denial”.

Workers at the Eastern Cape Satawu office — which has representatives and workers at Metrorail and Mayibuye Transport Corporation, among others — told the Dispatch they had been made aware of about 30 jobs that would be lost.

But Kiet said the number was not cast in stone.

“We know that when you go into a retrenchment process you don’t know how many people you will be retrenching [in the provincial offices]. But in terms of the national number, we need to trim the size by half.

“We have 226 and we have to trim that number to half ... you can’t bear the costs of having the same staff members as when you had 220,000 members,” Kiet said.

Asked about Satawu’s financial standing, Kiet said: “The union’s finances are determined by membership. So Satawu, in terms of the membership we have can sustain 50% of the staff we have. We survive through subscriptions from members.”

The jobs cut will contribute to the growing unemployment figure which stands at 30.1% nationally and 40.5% in the Eastern Cape.

And with the effects of Covid19 ongoing, more jobs are predicted to be on the line as employers battle to stay afloat.

Kiet said the leadership should have reduced its staff when it started losing members to three unions.

“That became a financial burden to the organisation and the union could not meet other commitments,” Kiet said.

Kiet said they had informed Cosatu, which they are affiliated to, that they would be trimming their staff complement.

Some workers told the Dispatch that section 189 notices had not been issued, but Kiet dismissed this, saying they knew “the processes” to follow if they had any gripes.

“The process is still ongoing. They’ve received letters.”

Satawu provincial secretary Zandile Pakati referred queries back to Kiet.