Strike threat looms for trucking industry

ALAN PEAT THE ROADfreight industry faces the threat of a major strike – with government having failed to approve a wage agreement made five months ago between the Road Freight Employers' Association (RFEA) and the five main unions in the industry. “Labour in our industry is currently in quite a volatile state of affairs, said RFEA chairman, Johan van der Walt. “Not only are we still at the mercy of the minister of labour to promulgate the new agreement, but we’ve also been confronted with possible industrial action on two occasions in recent weeks.” The agreement was signed in February this year and was submitted to the department of labour in March for promulgation and extension to non-member parties. But all that has happened is that, in June, the minister extended the period of the 2005/6 agreement of the national bargaining council (NBC) for the road freight industry for a further eight months. “This means that the agreement of 2005/6, which was in place until February 28, 2006, still applies,” said Magretia Brown, labour relations manager of the Road Freight Association (RFA), and will apply until February 28, 2007 - or until such time as the new agreement is promulgated.” Despite efforts, the industry bargaining body has been unable to get any clarification on the reason for the delay in implementing the new agreement. One possible reason is that the department has found that – with the unions representing about 43% of the workers in the industry, and the RFEA representing about 48% of the employers in the road sector – the two bodies in the agreement do not represent a large enough proportion of the industry. The department apparently embarked on an extensive verification exercise regarding the RFEA’s and unions’ representation in the industry shortly after the agreement was submitted, according to Brown. “This,” she said, “is a standard procedure so as to ensure that both employer and employee representatives indeed represent a sufficient number of each party in their industry to justify the extension of the agreement to non-parties (those employers and employees in the industry who are not members of either the employers’ organisation or the unions).” It was recently reported that this exercise had been completed, Brown added, and that the director-general had signed off the agreement with the recommendation to the minister that he should indeed extend it to non-parties in the industry. “All this, however, happened while the minister was abroad to attend the International Labour Organisation (ILO) convention,” she told FTW. “Recent rumours have it that the minister returned, and that the agreement is on his desk, ready to be gazetted. But, unfortunately, we have not been able to determine if it is at the top or bottom of his in-tray.” There has already been an adverse union reaction to the non-signing of the wage deal, and the RFEA was alerted to the fact that the five unions who are parties to the NBC were in the process of mobilising their members to take part in a national mass action – and demanding that the minister promulgate the 2006/7 agreement. But the RFEA’s submission to court that the unions did not adhere to any of the procedural provisions of the Labour Relations Act on industrial action was upheld – and the unions ordered to withdraw. “When the unions did not accede,” said Brown, “an urgent interdict was served on them. In the following days, the RFEA and the unions entered into discussions – and the unions were persuaded to delay the strike action.” But, as time went on, and the agreement remained unsigned by the minister – the threat of a major strike has begun to loom again. This has not yet been proposed at union level, FTW was told, but the workers' bodies are extremely disgruntled at the government’s inaction on the issue. “It’s a very disappointing attitude by government,” said Ronnie Mamba, national communications officer for the SA Transport and Allied Workers' Union (Satawu) – the main union in the road transport sector. “This is the same government that has been preaching to us that resolution should be found on industrial issues – and strikes averted.” A meeting between the RFEA, the unions and the minister has been diarised for today (July 28) – with both workers and employers hoping that this will give the agreement the go-ahead, and end the strike threat.