The United National Transport Union (Untu) has resolved its issues with Transnet following the breakdown of trust between the two organisations during wage negotiations this year.
The labour union threatened to scrap the agreement as it claimed it had been ‘misled’ because Transnet had failed to disclose the R222-million financial assistance granted to SA Express Airways in December 2017 during negotiations.
Transnet has agreed to put in more effort to communicate its current cash flow problem and the impact it has on the business. The state-owned transport company also promised to keep organised labour informed of financial decisions that might impact the mandate that members gave to the unions.
During a second meeting with Transnet CEO Siyabonga Gama, Untu leadership were told that the wage mandate for negotiations had been finalised with labour one month before the state-owned entity had been instructed to grant the loan to SA Express.
Additionally, Gama said that even if it had been granted during negotiations, Transnet would not have added it to its wage mandate as the loan was expected to be repaid with interest and therefore was considered an investment.
Gama said that the existence of the loan had been disclosed in the fine print of one of its financial presentations, but Harris stated that copies of this presentation had not been given to Untu representatives who attended.
“Had Untu members been informed of the loan prior to the Union signing the wage agreement, Untu would not have obtained a mandate from the majority of our members in Transnet,” Untu general secretary, Steve Harris, argued.
He pointed out that just R190 million of the R222 million loan would have given Transnet employees a further 1% salary increase.
However, both parties have agreed to work with one another to avoid any similar incidents in future.
