The South African road freight industry could be heading for its first strike in 15 years, with Road Freight Association (RFA) chief executive Gavin Kelly warning that the sector is unlikely to avoid labour unrest this year as wage negotiations get under way.
"We are going into negotiations now. We've had 15 years of peace. We're getting to year 16 of no industrial protest, no industrial strike, but I don't think we're going to go through this year without a strike," Kelly said during an address to Exporters Western Cape in Cape Town.
Kelly said employers could not absorb the wage increases currently being sought by unions. "We can't take 12%, 14% type increases. The unions have slapped 18% on the table. We've said forget it," he said.
Strike action had become more likely for two additional reasons, Kelly said. Firstly, unions would need to demonstrate their relevance to members during the current wage negotiations. Secondly, union membership has declined sharply over recent years, with membership in some unions falling to around 18%.
The decline could have far-reaching implications for South Africa's collective bargaining system, according to Kelly. He warned that if union membership continued to fall, the Minister of Employment and Labour could decide not to extend bargaining council agreements, potentially shifting labour negotiations from sector-wide bargaining to disputes at individual workplaces.
"Union membership keeps dropping. We're going to have a real problem because the Minister of Employment and Labour may decide not to extend these agreements anymore. If that happens, we'll end up in a situation where labour disputes and strikes take place at individual workplaces," he said.
The employment of undocumented foreign nationals was another issue creating growing tension within the industry, Kelly said. The RFA first raised the issue with government several years ago, urging authorities to enforce existing labour legislation. However, little progress had been made, allowing some employers to undercut compliant operators by paying undocumented workers well below the bargaining council minimum wage, he said.
"We haven't done enough to address the problem, and now we have a difficult situation on our hands," Kelly said. "There are too many operators employing undocumented foreign nationals and paying them below the bargaining council minimum wage. That's what we're fighting. South African citizens start losing their jobs because some employers can hire three or four drivers for what they would pay one South African driver."
