GroundUp reports that last week the United National Transport Union (Untu), joined by the Federation of Unions of SA (Fedusa), lodged two CCMA disputes against Bombela, the Gautrain’s operating company, for alleged unfair labour practices.  

This came after the Gautrain employees represented by Untu went on a two-week wage strike, which ended on 13 August with an agreement.  The first dispute is about Bombela’s refusal to disclose its financial statements to the union during the wage negotiations.  The second is about Bombela allegedly locking certain employees out of the premises while granting access to others during the strike.  Despite signing the wage agreement without seeing Bombela’s financial statements, the union’s spokesperson Sonja Carstens said they were determined to ensure transparency.  Untu general secretary Steve Harris said the union had been prepared to sign a non-disclosure agreement preventing it from making Bombela’s financials public, but the company still refused.  Carstens claimed that Bombela’s refusal to release its financials ultimately led to the strike.  But Bombela spokesperson Kesagee Nayager said that Untu only requested the financials during the final round of mediated negotiations that took place on 27 July, after the strike notice had already been issued.  Nayager also said Bombela was a private company and “it had no obligation to make its financial statement public”.

• Read this report by Zoë Postman in full at GroundUp

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