DCT work stoppage angers truckers

The Durban container truckers were up in arms last week as a four-and-a-half hour strike – euphemistically termed an “unplanned work stoppage” by Transnet Port Terminals (TPT) – paralysed the Durban container terminal (DCT) once again. With the peak season in the offing, the road hauliers are adamant that such unexpected stoppages bode ill for when the pre- Christmas rush really gets under way, and feel that TPT management is just not keeping on top of labour issues, according to Malcolm Sodalay, MD of Sammar Investments and chairman of the Durban harbour carriers’ section of the SA Association of Freight Forwarders (Saaff) in KwaZulu Natal. Despite many TPT “roadshows” over the past three months – when the DCT was shut for one hour in each shift as workers and management conferred on labour matters – sudden unexplained work stoppages like last Thursday’s are still happening, he told FTW. In a communication with TPT management he suggested that: “This leads one to believe that said roadshows did not have the desired impact.” When management fails to amicably attend to issues which are close to the heart of employees, that will ultimately result in a strike. “It is our opinion that employees only strike when their concerns do not receive the necessary attention – and thus industry as a whole suffers the consequence of this action.” Despite contact with both the main transport union, the SA Transport Workers’ Union (Satawu), and the communications section of TPT in Durban, FTW has still not found an official reason behind the work stoppage. The Durban truckers, however, were told by DCT workers that it related to management demands for a “clock-in, clock-out” system for workers, “which they feel restricts their freedom of movement” according to a road haulier.