SowetanLive reports that the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) has welcomed the decision taken by bus company Putco to halt the retrenchment of more than 200 employees.

In a statement released on Tuesday, the union said it had held a meeting with the management of Putco on Monday where management had agreed that it would no longer proceed with plans to retrench 214 employees. Last month, Putco announced it was set to lay off the 214 employees due to a decline in revenue and the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown. “As Numsa we have been vindicated. This is a victory for workers and their families. We made submissions during the section 189A consultation to oppose retrenchments, because we felt the job cuts were unnecessary,” said the union’s national spokesperson Phakamile Hlubi-Majola. She commented that fake tickets, job rotation and outsourcing were the main problems responsible for Putco’s financial woes. Putco management confirmed that job rotation would be stopped on 15 March. Numsa said it would continue engaging Putco to implement insourcing of workers rather than outsourcing because it believed outsourcing of workers led to high costs for the bus company.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Mpho Koka at SowetanLive

Read too, Numsa welcomes Putco halting retrenchments, on page 2 of The Star of 4 March 2021

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