Cosatu planning mass strike in Cape Town

Cosatu's Western Cape secretary Tony Ehrenreich File Picture: Courtney Africa

Cosatu's Western Cape secretary Tony Ehrenreich File Picture: Courtney Africa

Published Jun 15, 2016

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Cape Town - The Congress of SA Trade Unions (Cosatu) is preparing for mass strike action against rail and bus services in Cape Town.

The National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac) is expected to give the go-ahead before the end of the week for the protest action that could see Cosatu and its affiliates, which have over 200 000 members, down tools.

Strike action is almost a year in the making after the trade union federation filed an application to Nedlac last July under Section 77 of the Labour Act against national government, Prasa, the City of Cape Town, the Western Cape government and the Cape Town Chamber of Business and Industry for the dismal state of the city’s rail services and the MyCiTi bus routes.

On Tuesday Cosatu’s Western Cape regional secretary Tony Ehrenreich said negotiations to date had not yielded the intended results, and that the trade union was now awaiting official confirmation under section 77 (1)(d) of the act to strike.

This means the protest would be considered protected and no disciplinary action would be allowed against workers who joined the strike.

Nedlac’s communications co-ordinator Kim Jurgensen said that following talks last week, the matter was being considered by the standing committee and that a final decision would be communicated to the parties by Friday.

In its application last year, Cosatu said its members were being disciplined and even losing their jobs because they were arriving at work late due to the poor state of the city’s rail services. Overcrowding and frequent robberies also affected their safety.

Cosatu also lambasted the council for its MyCiTi bus service which it wanted deployed to the Cape Flats to compensate for the erratic rail service.

Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille said the city had been waiting for two years to take control over rail services under the National Land Transport Act and that the city’s transport authority, Transport Cape Town, had been set up to allow for its management.

The council had entered into an intergovernmental dispute over the apparent reluctance of Transport Minister Dipuo Peters to cede the service to the city.

De Lille said National Treasury and the Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs had already given their approval.

“We have to follow due process but I’m on the brink of going to court with her. If the city can begin to take over Metrorail and link it to MyCiTi, we will realise what we said about one mode of transport.”

Nedlac had over the past year convened meetings with the parties involved to discuss Cosatu’s concerns about the city’s public transport services, but after a meeting last week, parties said it became apparent they would not be resolved to the union’s satisfaction.

Ehrenreich said Cosatu would make an announcement soon on what strike action it planned to take.

Cape Argus

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