Cosatu has demanded longer train sets and that station platforms be expanded, among other measures to help ease overcrowding for Metrorail commuters.
If Metrorail did not commit to meeting these demands by January 12, the union federation would embark on a strike that would “bring the local economy to its knees”, Cosatu provincial secretary Tony Ehrenreich said yesterday.
He was speaking to about 150 people who gathered outside Metrorail’s offices in Cape Town in protest at poor train services. Cosatu also demanded that some of the city’s MyCiti buses, in service from Table View to the city centre, be used on the Cape Flats, and that a train service from Strand to Simon’s Town be provided to link “historically divided communities”.
The federation had initially planned a one-day strike for yesterday, but after talks with Metrorail management, decided on a lunchtime protest.
Ehrenreich, who had predicted about 2 000 people would take part in the protest yesterday, told the small crowd that staggered working hours and the possibility of schoolchildren taking “different trains at later times” should be considered to spread peak times.
He called on Cosatu members to report cable theft, whichdisrupted train services, and said: “We will jointly promote a toll-free number (to report cable theft).”
In a memorandum given to Metrorail regional manager Lindelo Matya, Cosatu has said its grievances are also directed at the local, provincial and national governments.
“The national government must effect the same funding commitments that they have made for the Gautrain and the modern fleet of planes for SAA,” the memorandum read.
Matya said while many of Cosatu’s demands would be impossible to meet, some of the measures sought were in place or could be by next month. He said that Metrorail had been in talks with the Cape Chamber of Commerce about the staggering of working hours to ease peak-hour congestion on the trains, and that these discussions had been positive. - Cape Times