Striking Workers Take To The Streets of Cape Town

A sea of red and white could be seen sweeping through the streets of Cape Town on Tuesday morning as Satawu and Utatu workers took to the streets in protest of the latest wage offer. Workers at both Transnet and Metrorail took part in the protest march. Metrorail workers are demanding a 16% increase while the Prasa is only offering a 8 % increase. Transnet workers are demanding a 15% increase while the employer is only offering an 11% wage increase.

Workers whom VOC News spoke to at the march said they are not able to put food on the table with their current salary. One worker said he takes home about R4000 a month after deductions. Another worker said his weekly wage is not enough to cover his daily living costs and that they work long hours. He said he does not know how he will put food on the table this week as the no work no pay rule has been applied.

On Monday Metrorial's acting regional manager, Lindelo Mataya, told VOC News that about 70% of their workforce had not reported for work. According to Matya of the 3500 unionized workers 897 reported for work on Monday morning. "I would assume that this figure could include both unionized and non-unionized members. I would say that it is about two-thirds of our workers that are on strike. Just under 70% have gone on strike and 30% has pitched up for work," he said.

Negotiations continued late into Tuesday evening with the CCMA in Johannesburg. This week Metrorail completely shut down its services and thousands of commuters were forced to find alternate modes of transport to and from work. This according to Matya mainly due to the fact that the company had lost two train sets in the previous strike action by workers.

When asked about the fact that Metrorial had shut down its services because of this the spokesman for Satawu in the Western Cape, Evan Abrahamse replied that they cannot be blamed solely for that as they were not the only union on strike at the time. "I thought that, that was a closed book. We were not the only strike happening at the time, there was a security strike also taking place which was not organized by Satawu, at the same time, when those trains were damaged," he explained.

According to Abrahamse, the Treasury's statement that wage increases should not be higher than inflation holds no water. "Economist has been largely discredited since the recession. What they are saying holds not water with us. Our members have been struggling to put bread on the table, so we need a better deal."

Meanwhile, Utatu's Trevor Wasserveld told VOC News that the current wage offer on the table is unacceptable. "The wage percentage itself in terms of the cost of living is way below the standard. There are also other issues that need to be dealt with," said Wasserveld