JOHANNESBURG, May (ANA) - The United National Transport Union (Untu) has accused Transnet of misleading the union during recent wage negotiations and is considering terminating the agreement.
"It is regrettable that the United National Transport Union (Untu) must inform its members in Transnet that it has withdrawn from monetary negotiations with the employer after a total breakdown in our trust relationship," Untu general secretary Steve Harris said in a statement.
Transnet confirmed to Untu, which represented the majority of its employees, in writing that it had granted financial assistance to South African Express Airways SoC Ltd (SA Express) to the value of R222 million on December 29, 2017 amid wage negotiations at the Transnet Bargaining Council (TBC) with organised labour, he said.
Throughout the wage negotiations, Transnet maintained and submitted financial statements to indicate that it was experiencing cash flow problems after the state-owned enterprise (SoE) was downgraded to junk status by international rating agency Standard & Poor's at the end of November 2017.
“Throughout the negotiations, Transnet maintained that a multi-term agreement was needed to convince investors to invest in the SoE. If organised labour did not agree to the multi-term agreement, Transnet refused to include the no-retrenchment clause needed to secure the work of our more vulnerable members,” Harris said.
However, an audit process had brought to light that the Transnet board of directors under chairwomen Linda Mabaso, who resigned this week, granted the R222 million financial assistance to SA Express in terms of section 45(5) (a) of the Companies Act.
According to a letter to Harris by Transnet acting chief financial officer Mark Gregg-Macdonald, Transnet provided a short-term capital loan to SA Express on the request and authority granted by the then public enterprises minister Lynne Brown.
“Transnet explains that SA Express had to pay its suppliers before 31 December 2017 to avoid forced liquidation which would have resulted in 1200 job losses and would have negatively impacted on the sovereign ratings outlook of all SoEs by credit ratings agencies.
“However, that is immaterial to Untu. We negotiated in good faith with Transnet at the TBC. We signed a multi-term agreement for a 7.1 percent wage increase for three years with a mandate from the majority of our members based on the financial statements and projections presented to us by Transnet. Now it is clear that Transnet had misled the union,” Harris said.
Untu would consider terminating the wage agreement after the union had discussions with Transnet CEO Siyabonga Gama, who gave the negotiation team their mandate.
“Untu will not tolerate Transnet making fools of our leadership by deliberately withholding crucial information,” Harris said.
- African News Agency (ANA)
