Cape Town - More than 100 000 rail commuters face being stranded from Thursday when the SA Transport and Allied Workers Union (Satawu) goes on an indefinite strike.
The union served a notice of intention to strike to Metrorail on Monday. However, Metrorail rushed to assure commuters on Tuesday that there would be little or no disruption, saying it was only a small percentage of union workers who would be striking.
Metrorail regional manager Richard Walker accused Satawu of acting in bad faith and said it was a faction within the union who had orchestrated the strike.
He said Metrorail was confident that there would be very little or no disruption, but they had a contingency plan in place.
The union said it had called on its 1 600 members working for Prasa to stop working until their demands were met and urged train commuters to use alternative transport.
Satawu shop steward Luntu Sokutu said they were demanding an end to the casualisation of workers, an end to the outsourcing of permanent services and that salaries should be aligned with other provinces.
The union wanted Walker’s immediate removal from office because he was allegedly unqualified and did not have a matric certificate.
“We will not be allowing anyone to use the trains.”