Trucker strike threat an ‘exaggeration’

The threat of an imminent national strike by truck drivers is being over-dramatised by the media, according to a number of SA road transport operators. It is still just a threat, said Paul Rayner, MD of DTB Cartage in Durban, and former chairman of the Durban harbour carriers’ division of the SA Association of Freight Forwarders (Saaff) – who added that it was a usual union strategy when pay talks faltered. And falter they have. Talks deadlocked late in November with the unions sitting with a 35% wage increase demand unmet, and road transport employers stuck on 8%. Even that 8% would be a bit tight for a lot of operators to find, according to Kevin Martin, MD of Freightliner Transport and current vicechairman of the carriers’ body – especially in the light of so many trucks being parked off because of a lack of business. But the normal tactic now is for the Road Freight Association (RFA) – the body that represents the employers in wage negotiations – to get a new mandate from all the employers, he added, and take this back to the negotiating table as a new offer to the unions. Magretia Brown, labour relations manager of the RFA, also suggests that it’s too early to talk about a national strike – and told FTW that no such official notice had been submitted by the unions. The first round of talks deadlocked, she agreed, but the unions and the employers are ready to resume negotiations in the second round of talks scheduled for January 21 next year. And it’s only if these talks again deadlock that strike action may be called for. FTW has also been led to believe that the employers’ counter offer and the unions’ second round demands might be closer than people think – and certainly closer than the 35%-8% originally on the table. “There’s certainly room for negotiation,” Brown said, expressing confidence that a satisfactory conclusion could be reached. The employers and the unions are both looking at the present wage negotiations leading to a settlement that will fix the new wage levels for two years until 2010.