Truck strike – was there a winner?

April this year will no doubt be remembered in the trucking fraternity as the month of the big strike. As thousands of truck drivers went on strike over better wages and working conditions, associations and employers claimed workers were not taking the global economic recession into account. As they headed to the negotiation tables, truck drivers took to the streets in a nine-day strike that was sometimes violent and sometimes intimidating. Across the country fuel retailers urged all parties to find a solution as petrol stations started to run dry and the economic crunch hit home. In the first of its kind power panel, FTW posed some questions to three industry experts about the much talked about strike. Magretia Brown, labour relations manager of the Road Freight Employers’ Association (RFEA), Fred Meier, HR director of Imperial Logistics, and Randall Howard, general secretary of the SA Transport and Allied Workers’ Union (Satawu) agreed that the main issues at hand were the increase in minimum wages, across the board wages, extension of the bargaining unit, certain allowances and maternity leave.