Cape Town - The Jammie Shuttle drivers strike at UCT is escalating, with more workers joining the strike.
UCT’s cleaning services in residences were affected on September 10, and the Jammie Shuttle service suspended since last Tuesday. A few days after the suspension of the Jammie Shuttle service, the catering staff in residences downed tools.
Four unions - the Democratised Transport Logistics and Allied Workers Union (Detawu), the National Education, Health and Allied Worker’s Union (Nehawu), the University and Allied Workers Union, and the South African Liberated Public Sector Workers Union (Salipswu) - joined forces in a dispute over wage increases and recruitment policies with the university management.
UCT spokesperson Elijah Moholola said the university had issued meal vouchers to cover breakfast, lunch and dinner at all catered residences.
Despite management and four labour unions going back to the negotiating table today no common ground has yet been reached.
The four unions involved in the strike initially tabled two demands, the first for additional payments to residence cleaning staff and the second for all recruitment processes to be halted immediately to allow the unions concerned to participate in these processes.
Detawu spokesperson Mayibenathi Matwa said: “We want our demands to be recognised by the university management so we can be in accord.”
Matwa said the university’s cleaners, who perform seasonal deep-cleaning functions, initially requested a R2 500 wage increase; the university tabled R1 200 increase per month after four months.
Matwa said the striking workers would not end their strike until their demands were met.
@SISONKE_MD