Members of the United National Transport Union (UNTU) are invited to voluntary join the historical joint protest action by South Africa’s Organised Labour federations COSATU, FEDUSA and NACTU against Government’s failure to provide affordable and safe public transport amidst the Covid-19 pandemic.
UNTU is affiliated to FEDUSA and supported Organised Labour in its Section 77 application before the National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac) against Government, after it allowed taxi’s to increase its loading capacity to 100% knowing that the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) has been unable, to date, to keep to its scheduled reintroduction of train routes.
It has equally been identified that there has been much confusion surrounding the current Section 77 action that stems from the dismal state of public transport, corruption, job losses, OHS and decent work issues in relation to the Public Sector Wage Dispute / Legal Action.
Your attention is therefore drawn to the fact that the 2 processes are completely separate from each other and should in no way be confused, as the Section 77 for the 07 October matter arises from joint actions engaged in the NEDLAC Chamber, for which FEDUSA was represented by UNTU, MISA, UASA and MTWU, hence the participation from the Federation as well as the broader civil society.
Steve Harris, General Secretary of UNTU, says the Executive Committee of the Union decided members who wish to participate may do so and will be protected in terms of a Section 77 strike certificate issued in favour of all three federations. If members do participate, they must remember that the principle of no work, no pay will apply.
Organised Labour demands that:
- Taxi loading capacity must be reduced from 100% to 70% immediately, as the full capacity loading posed risks to the lives of passengers.
- The Directive on the Peak Spreading must be implemented urgently, as its delay promotes virus spreading.
- A Violence Avoidance Plan must be established in order to remove the danger of violence erupting on routes as the number of commuters decline due to Covid-19.
To enforce these demands, the three federations calls upon its affiliated Unions and its members to join in a national stay-away on Wednesday 07 October 2020.
Issued on behalf of UNTU by Sonja Carstens, Deputy-General Secretary: Media, Liaison and Communication. For UNTU Press Releases e-mail sonja@untu.co.za or phone 082 463 6806.
