Job security reassurance heads Morwe's agenda

Leonard Neill
THE WORKFORCE at Durban Container Terminal must understand the productivity imperative and must be aware that anyone who can prove his worth will not face retrenchment.
This, says South African Port Operations (Sapo) chief executive Tau Morwe, must be urgently addressed when he meets the work force and its trade unions in the weeks ahead.
"Concessioning the terminals will not necessarily result in job losses," he told FTW in Johannesburg last week. "The people who walk the talk, those who are performing their duties well, need not fear retrenchment. The concessionaires will want to absorb them when they take over."
Morwe used the Apron Services example to illustrate his point. When the airports ground handling operation was privatised, unions resisted the move. "But once the employees were given the opportunity to understand and appreciate their individual positions, everything changed for the good," he said.
"The harbour involves far more workers than the airports, so it is more difficult to meet head on. As a matter of urgency, therefore, I have to talk to the secretary-generals of all unions involved. They keep saying they are doing something, yet the workers appear to be in a go-slow situation. Basically what the unions are doing right now is walking themselves into a tight corner, and we have to do something to help get them out of it.'