BusinessLive reports that the United National Transport Union (Untu) has threatened to intensify its Gautrain wage strike, which saw more than 300 Gautrain employees taking industrial action this week.
Untu general secretary Steve Harris said: "Management has not met with us; we are unfortunately continuing with the protest action until they engage us and address our demand." The union appealed to commuters to boycott the train and stand in solidarity with them. Bombela Operating Company spokesperson Kesagee Nayager said the company that operated the Gautrain was willing to engage workers, but had not revised its initially proposed salary increase of 8.5%. Untu is demanding a 10% basic salary increase‚ a transport allowance of R800 or staff card usage for office workers‚ a housing allowance of R1‚600 and incentive bonuses of R20‚000 for all employees. It is also wants the night shift allowance to be increased by 10%. On Thursday evening Nayager called on the workers and their union to reconsider the offer because it was very fair and generous. She was unsure when negotiations were likely to resume. "If they can reconsider our offer‚ we would gladly return to the negotiation table‚" she indicated.
- Read this report by Nonkululeko Njilo in full at BusinessLive
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