The SA Transport and Allied Workers Union (Satawu) on Wednesday said it was still consulting its legal team after it had once again deadlocked with the passenger rail agency Prasa over wage demands.
Satawu said it backtracked from signing the 5% wage increment after Prasa could not meet two of its key demands.
Spokesperson, Amanda Tshemese said: "I can confirm that we've deadlocked and that we've not signed the agreement as expected.
"We demanded that no retrenchments must take place - they couldn't meet those demands which is clear that Prasa intends to retrench workers. We also demanded an exact date when the workers can expect their back-payments as the entity owes workers a lot of money.
"They also could not give us those details," Tshemese said.
"We are currently consulting our legal team on the way forward and we are likely to embark on a strike."
Meanwhile, the United National Transport Union, which was expected to sign the wage agreement on Monday, has also made an about-turn.
"It is unfortunate that labour has once again found itself in an unpleasant situation due to Prasa management's bad faith negotiation tactics at the eleventh hour," Untu said in a statement.
"Prasa management failed to agree to clause 3.1 of the wage agreement draft that stipulates that the salary increase will be effective from 1 April 2023, retrospectively with a lump sum payment to all employees made together with their December salary."
Prasa spokesperson Andiswa Makanda said the rail agency would for now not be commenting on the current situation because it wants to negotiate in good faith.
