Cape Town – The strike by Metrorail workers in Cape Town has been declared illegal and unprotected after an interdict was granted on Wednesday evening, management said.
Metrorail workers belonging to the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (Satawu) had been expected to embark on a strike on Thursday. The union said the strike was about poor management and what it called exploitation of workers.
On Thursday morning Metrorail regional manager Richard Walker said the interdict was requested “to prevent the backbone of public transport in the Western Cape from being impacted”.
“We are privileged to transport the bulk of public transport users and every effort will be made to prevent them from being inconvenienced further,” he said.
Walker said employees had reported for duty and the service recorded good performance.
However there were reports on Thursday morning that a large group of striking Metrorail workers had gathered at Cape Town train station.
On Wednesday
Satawu shop steward Luntu Sokutu said strikers would gather at the station and picket with placards.
He said about 1 600 union members would be part of the strike until their demands were met.
Sokutu said Satawu was demanding an end to outsourcing of permanent services and for local workers’ salaries to be aligned with what workers in other provinces earned.
Metrorail trains transport about 100 000 commuters daily.
IOL and Cape Times