More than 300 Gautrain bus drivers have been fired after an illegal strike crippled the bus service, leaving more than 10 000 commuters stranded.
Bus drivers said complaints of 11-hour shifts and a lack of transportation to and from work had been ignored by their employers, Mega Express.
Now, the lawyer representing the drivers, Kevin van Huyssteen, has dubbed the mass firing wrongful termination and said he would be fighting to help his clients regain their jobs.
According to Van Huyssteen, the dismissal of 320 drivers is a breach of the Basic Conditions of Employment Act, something that set the strike off in the first place.
Van Huyssteen said that legally the drivers had no obligation to work before 6am and after 6pm, and it was the company’s responsibility to provide transport home for drivers “sometimes knocking off after 10.30pm”.
He cited a lack of pay as another major breach of the act.
“These guys are being paid for 7.5 hours a day on 11-hour shifts,” he said.
The case has been set down for arbitration on February 22.
Vusi Ngobeni, one of 320 drivers sent a termination notice, said many of the workers at the Midrand bus depot lived in Kempton Park and a lack of public transport occasionally prevented them from getting to work.
“We have to use lift clubs, or hitchhike, or use expensive (metered cabs) to get to work. On our salary we cannot afford this,” said Ngobeni.
Long hours with no bathroom or lunch breaks was the drivers’ major concern.
“Some of us get up at 2am for the start of the day (4am) and work until 2.30pm without food.
“What they (Mega Express) must know is that they have pushed us to the limit. They were firing people wrongly,” he said.
The drivers, who spent Monday blockading the Midrand Gautrain bus depot, have spent months negotiating with their employers, eventually leading to an illegal strike last month.
After a four-day strike, the drivers were ordered by an interdict on January 13 to return to work.
According to Bombela, the company responsible for managing the Gautrain and speaking on behalf of Mega Express, disciplinary hearings after the first illegal strike had led to the current
impasse.
Several drivers were dismissed, sparking further anger and a counter-interdict designed to halt the disciplinary hearings.
The application was dismissed on February 1.
Drivers abandoned their routes again, and disciplinary action continued.
On Friday, the drivers were given an ultimatum to return to work by 3pm or give reasons why they should not be dismissed.
Numerous requests by the drivers for an extension to the deadline were denied, and Van Huyssteen’s office
received the termination notices.
Bombela said on Monday morning: “Bearing in mind that this is the fourth illegal work stoppage in the past six months and that it is in defiance of a court interdict compelling the drivers to return to work, the management of Mega Express came to the view that the contents of the submission did not provide justifiable grounds to halt the disciplinary procedures.
“As a consequence, the process to dismiss those drivers involved in the illegal strike has now begun.”
The company is trying to operate on a skeleton staff, but there was no word on Monday about when the buses would be on the road again.
The drivers were initially represented by the SA Transport and Allied Workers Union, but later withdrew from the union and found private representation.
Gautrain bus driver Vusi Ngobeni’s daily schedule
2am: Vusi Ngobeni wakes up at his home in Soshanguve to get ready for his 4am shift at the Pretoria depot.
2.45am-3am: He uses unreliable transport to get to the depot, either hitchhiking, using metered cabs or hoping a colleague with his own car can pick him up.
4am: Ngobeni arrives at the Pretoria depot. He does the compulsory safety checks on the bus he will drive.
4.15am: He makes his way to his assigned route’s half-way point within 45 minutes of arriving at the depot.
4.45am: Ngobeni starts his route to pick up commuters.
10-11am: During the off-peak hours, Ngobeni might get five to 10 minutes for a bathroom break.
2pm: Ngobeni returns to the depot. It takes about half an hour to park the bus and report before he can clock out.
2.30pm: He catches a regular taxi to go home. - The Star