Cape Town – Go George bus commuters were left stranded yesterday after a drivers’ strike brought operations to a halt.
Go George yesterday alerted commuters that there would be no early morning trips on account of “a possible dispute among the drivers”.
This after a second bus driver tested positive for Covid-19 on Tuesday.
A bus driver who asked to remain anonymous for fear of victimisation, said their employers did not want to listen to staff concerns despite the number of employees testing positive, increasing.
“These guys who have tested positive were using the same buses we are using now at the moment. Some of them (the buses) are not being sanitised.
“We want them to close the gates just for three days for the whole depot to be sanitised. They don't want to test us also, they said that we have to go to our own doctors and clinics to be tested. When we do these individual tests it costs us R1200 per person. It’s a huge problem for us, and we are asking ourselves why the company is doing this,” the driver said.
The driver said a third colleague had tested positive.
“They know they are going to lose a lot when the buses are not operating, they receive money per kilometre, now since the buses are not moving there's no money coming in. Now we (down) tools, now they say it’s unlawful because we stopped the operations.
“The drivers are scared to spread the Covid-19 to their families. We are in trouble and we are getting sick, each and every day,” the driver said.
Go George manager James Robb said yesterday that management of George Link were in the process of engaging with the drivers.
He said the second driver to test positive last worked on Saturday, servicing Route 1A New Dawn Park to the CBD.
“The driver presented with flu-like symptoms on Sunday and decided to seek medical help straight away instead of starting his next duty.
“Upon receiving the positive test results, the required protocol of notifying the Departments of Health and of Labour was followed and the driver is in isolation,” Robb said.
“As Go George, we sincerely apologise for this disruption, we obviously understand the huge impact of this unplanned strike on our schools, businesses and the community at large during these very challenging times,” he said.