PRASA MANAGER INSULTS UNTU PRESIDENT, REFUSE TO APOLOGIZE
Tiro Holele, General Manager of Corporate Services at the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa), insulted the President of the United National Transport Union, Wyndham Evans, today by repeatedly interrupting him and arrogantly saying that he is not his garden boy.
Evans wanted to make it clear that today’s meeting will be without prejudice before talks started. UNTU will not be drawn into the re-opening of wage negotiations after the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) issued a certificate of non-resolution on the wage dispute last week. UNTU demands a 10% salary increase backdated to 1 April 2017 and Prasa is only offering 6%.
Holele, who chaired the meeting as per the request of Lindikhaya Zide – Acting Group Chief Executive Officer of Prasa, continued to abruptly interrupt Evans. The President politely asked him to please allow him to finish his sentence, as the UNTU delegation remained silent while Prasa management had their say in opening the meeting.
Holele, however, told Evans that he will not be addressed by the President as he was not his “garden boy.”
Evans and the rest of the UNTU delegation walked out of the meeting, causing a two hour delay, while Holele refused to apologize. Evans said he will not talk to people living in the past, with no respect for Labour and the sensitive nature of the issue on the table.
“We are dealing with the lives of our members and their families. This is not the time to bring personal insecurities to the table or to be disrespectful towards Labour, as this Union and our members have tolerated more than enough disrespect and arrogance from Prasa management. Enough is enough. We will not bow down,” says Evans.
The talks continued after Popo Molefe, Chairman of the Board of Prasa, intervened and gave instructions to Zide to inform Holele to leave. Holele left without apologising.
This comes a month after Zide and Holele had an informal meeting with leaders of UNTU while Evans was abroad.
In that meeting, Zide acknowledged Labour as Prasa’s most important stakeholder and pleaded that the working relationship between the parties must be re-established.
Holele showed appreciation for the relationship with UNTU.
“We are tired. We want a prosperous Prasa instead of blaming each other for the broken Prasa. We have a shared history in labour relations and we need to rebuild the bridges”, he said.
After Holele left this morning, Zide once again re-confirmed that the relationship must be stabilized and apologised for the delay caused.
Issued on behalf of UNTU by Sonja Carstens, Media and Liaison Officer. For UNTU Press Releases e-mail sonja@untu.co.za or phone 082 463 6806.
Caption: Wyndham Evans, President of UNTU.
