Cosatu threatens strike action over tolls

Cosatu has issued a notice under Section 77 of the Labour Relations Act warning that if there is no change in government policy on the toll issue and the negotiations deadlock, they will take to the streets with marches, demonstrations, pickets and stayaways, even taking strike action if the tolls are not scrapped. Nedbank economist Carmen Altenkirch says the anger is understandable, as the tolls will no doubt have an extremely negative impact not only on the Gauteng economy but also that of the country. On the other hand there is the impact of the tolls on business – especially in the freight sector, she told FTW. According to Altenkirch, in the current economic climate there will be less scope to pass on the costs, but what business and consumers can all expect is an immediate effect once the tolls become active. “This really is just another nail in the coffin and we are predicting that companies are going to cut costs drastically. One of the first ways of doing that is to retrench workers – something we can ill afford.” Gavin Kelly of the Road Freight Association maintains that there were other options available to pay for the road upgrade such as ring-fencing the fuel levy. “We could have found much cheaper ways to fund the Gauteng highway system,” says Altenkirch. “Of course they all entail a higher cost of some sort, but it would have been a lot less than what we are going to be paying, and the impact on the economy would have been much less.” According to Kelly the tolls remain a major concern to the industry which is in continuous discussion with the Department of Transport in efforts to find solutions to the ever-increasing problem.