Cape Town - The National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) has declared a dispute alleging the Golden Arrow bus services (Gabs) has refused to implement the latest wage increase in the bus passenger sector.
The trade union turned to the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) in Cape Town last Friday, where the dispute was heard.
Numas’s national spokesperson Phakamile Hlubi-Majola said that the process was still under way at CCMA and an update regarding the matter would be issued next week after their submissions of response were made.
“In the meanwhile, our members will continue to picket at Gabs as the matter remains unresolved.”
Numsa general secretary Irvin Jim said that their members at Gabs had been embarking on pickets daily to protest against the company and another for unpaid wage increases.
Last month, the union negotiated a 7% across-the-board increase in the bus passenger industry.
“However, since Gabs and its associated companies resigned from the bargaining council in 2021, they have refused to implement the 7% increase negotiated at the centralised bargaining council.
“All other bus companies in the sector have implemented the increase.
The greedy management wants to drag this process out because they want to deny workers increases. They have a long history of exploiting workers and undermining centralised bargaining agreements.
“When they were part of the bargaining council, they were always the most hostile out of all the employers, and the most stubborn, and their presence often worsened the negotiating process,” said Jim.
According to Jim, their non-affiliation to the bargaining council meant that workers were severely compromised.
They are forced to wait for Minister of Employment and Labour Thulas Nxesi to gazette and extend the agreement.
“It is also likely that Golden Arrow will apply for an exemption, like it always does, a dirty tactic, it uses to frustrate workers. Golden Arrow has been applying for exemptions for the past four years and taking every case that does not go in their favour to court,” said Jim.
Gabs spokesperson John Dammert said the company, as with a number of other companies in the passenger transport sector, was not a party to the negotiations which concluded the main collective agreement (MCA) referred to.
“Until this extension takes place, Gabs and other non-parties in the sector remain bound to the provisions of the 2022 South African Road Passenger Bargaining Council (SARPBAC) MCA.
“The parties to the MCA, including the unions represented at Gabs, are aware of this provision and that Gabs is acting in accordance with said provision.
The Minister of Employment and Labour, at the request of SARPBAC, will extend the agreement to non-parties in the sector, at which time the agreement becomes applicable,” said Dammert.
Cape Times