SA in for serious trouble

[John Ashworth]

Strike by South African rail and port workers widens

Page last updated at 11:31 GMT, Wednesday, 12 May 2010 12:31 UK
BBC

Thousands have joined a strike by South African transport workers, crippling rail and port services across the country.

Unions want a 15% pay rise for staff at Transnet, the country's state-owned main transporter of freight.

The United Transport and Allied Trade Union has joined the industrial action called on Monday by the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union.

South Africa is preparing to host the World Cup, which starts on 11 June.

Unions have rejected Transnet's offer of an 11% pay rise.

'Nothing is moving'

Eighty-five per cent of Transnet's 54,000-strong workforce are now on strike, says Reuters news agency.

Transnet transports thousands of tonnes of freight daily by train, as well as loading and unloading goods at South African ports.

"Nothing is moving today," George Strauss, president of the United Transport and Allied Trade Union, told Reuters.

Deliveries of fuels such as coal have been minimal, reports South Africa's Business Day newspaper.

The country's passenger rail services, which rely on Transnet workers, have also been affected.

The Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) has suspended all services operated by Shosholoza Meyl, the country's long-distance passenger rail company, for the duration of the strike, says Business Day.

Up to 30,000 passengers would be affected "based on the assumption that the strike continues for a full two weeks", Prasa acting CEO Tumisang Kgaboesele was quoted as saying by the newspaper.

Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to visit South Africa for the World Cup, which is being held in Africa for the first time.

[Luca Lategan]

Just in on the Metrorail SMS service:

TFR strike: No trains between Kraaifontein - Malmesbury and Wellington - Worcester on 14-16 May. Please make alternative arrangements/wait for busses when available. Apologies for inconvenience. From CT Metrorail

[Jerome West]

http://tinyurl.com/33s4z4k

PLANNED STRIKE AT METRORAIL AND SHOSHOLOZA MEYL

Dear Valued Customer
PRASA, the Parent Company of Metrorail and Shosholoza Meyl, has been issued with a strike notice by SATAWU and UTATU, the strike will commence on Monday at 00:01 on 17th May 2010.

As a consequence of this planned strike, PRASA will shut down its RAIL OPERATIONS (METRORAIL and SHOSHOLOZA MEYL) on the 17th of May 2010, in order to protect customers and employees, and safeguard the assets of PRASA.
Commuters are advised that all ticket offices will be closed during the strike and no tickets will be sold during the strike period.
Commuters and Passengers are urged to make alternative transport arrangements in preparation for the strike. PRASA apologizes for the disruption and inconvenience that the strike will cause to its valued customers.

ISSUED BY PRASA RAIL

[Kevin Wilson-Smith]

Yes indeed, the Transnet strike does bite.

Consider importers ex-Europe now that sea is now locked down (due to Transnet, ports etc) as well as air also (partially still due to the volcano which is creating goods backlog)).

[carldasnevesvieira]

Dear All

There will be strikes and threat of the same in this period leading up to the WC 2010. The closer you get to it,we are going to see more industrial action especially if the Government gives to one and then we are going to get the whole lot joining in. The alternative is one strike movement does not get his way and the other will join in. One way or the other no one is going to win and the railways in its 150th year is going (forgive the pun) nowhere!

I lived in the Algarve when Euro 2004 was on and the same happened---trains included! Funny enough no one blinked when in that country the VAT in 1992 went from 8% to 16% overnight. If the same happened in SA there would be Civil War.

This period of industrial action will increase as we get closer to the 11th June. The shame here is that people would have lost their travel on trains and damage will be done to the reputation of the Railways.
No doubt private operators such as Rovos will loose money--bad enough with the recent case now he has an uncertain couple of weeks ahead of him.
At least the good side of this the strikers will be too busy to strike during WC 2010................but then they will be too busy to work also!

Cheers
Carlos

[Luca Lategan]

Yes Carlos, this doesn't help at all in fixing the railways' useless image.

To Greg: I'm still deciding on which side I am, Transnet who is losing by the R100mil per day (and PRASA who just can't afford raises) or the workers. It looks like the biggest factor on the worker's side at PRASA is the stopping of all overtime work. Our previous housekeeper's husband used to be a Metro guard and then (5 years back) she used to say that they will never be able to cope should overtime be taken away. The basic salary is just so low that if you don't have overtime, then you don't even have money for rent. Of course this isn't unique to the railways, in the manufacturing industry exactly the same thing happens. This is also not new to the railways as the 'old' people always talks about how they worked 18-hour shifts to get overtime and how they would in some cases deliberately crawl along to extend the time. I heard that this caused a lot of fighting in the cab as the stoker wanted to get home early for the rugby or wife and the driver wanted overtime.

NOW, is this what the strike is really about? Is it that big a problem? You, as a young person, would you be able to support a wife, kids, home, car etc with a basic driver's salary?

There used to be a saying in the railways that you NEVER asked for a raise, they would just be mad at you and give you a lot of extra flack. You just worked HARDER and worked yourself up the ladder from a cleaner to a fireman to a driver to a senior driver and then a section manager etc. It looks like non this doesn't exist anymore.

[Chris Janisch]

PRASA simply cannot afford salary raises of this mature. They are months behind on their supplier accounts.
Transnet maybe can, but this sets a precedent. Heard a little rumour that they have settled on a high increase but are letting unions blow off steam still!

[Luca Lategan]

Aaah, thanks, I suspected something like that...

[Luca Lategan]

PRASA says in all its press releases that should the strike go ahead, they will implement the 8% increase, the 4 month maternity leave and that conditions of employment immediately.

[Jerome West]

I'm a contractor at Metrorail and I can't go on strike but I feel for the real workers of the railways. What many employees feel is that many managers are just concerned about themselves and their careers than the actual business. The offer is ONLY 5% with a 3% extra for those who are going to lose their allowances.

I will not benefit from the increases as I am a contractor at Metrorail since 2006. I was made a FTCW (Full Time Contract Worker) on the 1 Jan 2010 so did not make the cutoff of 1 August 2009 to become full time. Take the Business Express staff, they where FTCW and became full time on the 1 April 2010 BUT had their salaries cut in a big way. One hostess said to me that her manager said that they should be lucky that they have a job. Now is this how you supposed to treat staff.

Anyway my biggest fear is that if the increases as much as what the unions are asking happen, then this will lead to retrenchments as PRASA cannot afford it because they need to pay their too many managers. PRASA has too many chiefs and too few indians.

[Dylan Knott]

I fully support the striking workers, but do not condone violence associated with striking!

[Stefan Andrzejewski]

Jerome it seems like PRASA has become just like any corporate company in South Africa where the Chiefs get all the cream and the Indians the sour milk. When I worked in that world as an Operational manager we would get small extra bonuses, the workers nothing but the General Management would pocket millions , after tax.

[Dylan Knott]

Heard a freight working through Swest at 16:32. No metro trains seen all day and the Business Express was not running!

[Luca Lategan]

I don't think the bosses' big salaries is that big an issue, if you have 10 bosses that each get a mil per year extra and you divide that R10mil between 10 000 people then each get's R1000 extra PER YEAR. As a percentage of their yearly salary, it is not that much.

The biggest problem, especially at PRASA, is that it is WAY underfunded by government! PRASA can fire all it's big bosses and it will STILL not have enough money to expand the way it should.

Just now on the news I heard government saying to PRASA to talk to the unions to end the strike. The problem lies with the government itself! In Cape Town, for example, we have 85-90 sets, according to the experts we need 120 to operate efficiently! And I'm not talking about new lines or expanding the accommodation, that's just for current needs!

Just for a comparison:
In 1983 there were about 722 million passenger trips
In 2006 the figure was down 27% to 529 729 000.
This, while the population increased by 55% from 31.4 mil to 48.6 during the same time.

And they say the ANC has done SO MUCH for the country...

Government should stop looking at high speed rail and all kinds of other nonsense and focus on the wonderful, efficient system that they received from the previous regime and managed to drove into the sea.

[Chris Janisch]

I think what the unions want is for the bosses to lead by example. They know 15% is too much. If only management would humble themselves then maybe the dispute would end. This as always seems to much to ask.
Today 3 goods trains went north from Pyramid between 7-8am. Apparently some drivers are non-unionised and are used for vital trains. Network controllers obviously still on duty.