Durban - The People Mover bus strike was short lived as employees returned to work by midday on Wednesday.
Some of the reasons why employees had downed tools was because they had not received their increment which was supposed to commence in April.
Unions who intervened told employees that their strike was not protected and they had to return to work while they organised a meeting to be held on Thursday with the employer.
The union also said their grievances were valid but they had to follow the right channels in order to communicate their concerns.
Commuters that use the People Mover bus were left stranded in the morning and had to make alternative arrangements in order to move around the city
On Wednesday morning, bus drivers and inspectors downed tools over a number of issues including not receiving an increment that was supposed to commence from April and issues around the Covid-19 pandemic.
The municipality released a statement on behalf of the EThekwini Transport Authority (ETA) informing commuters that the People Mover bus, which was run by private operator, Tansnat, the bus service was affected in all areas due to a strike by bus drivers.
“The municipality wishes to apologise to all commuters for the inconvenience caused. Commuters are urged to make alternative travel arrangements during this interruption,” said the municipality.
The municipality also said the ETA would communicate all updated information about the bus strike through media platforms.
Last week, aqualine and mynah bus drivers downed tools for the whole week alleging that a Tansnat official had threatened them and suggested that the company was a “do or die”. Bus drivers also wanted the eThekwini Municipality to take over operations of the city fleet because they felt that not only was Tansnat failing but they did not know how to manage people.
The drivers had handed over a memorandum to mayor Mxolisi Kaunda, with a list of their demands and complaints. Attached to the memorandum was a USB flash drive with a recording of the alleged threat and Kaunda telling the public that buses would be returned to the municipality.
On Monday drivers returned to work after numerous talks with Tansnat management, the eThekwini city manager and union representatives.
Daily News