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The Citizen reports on a looming private security sector strike that is however unlikely to be deadly and as bloody as the one in 2006, when 60 people were killed and scores injured.
The violent six-month long strike saw non-striking guards and on-duty guards attacked, and some thrown off moving trains. Amendments to the Labour Relations Act require that picketing rules must be agreed upon before workers go on strike. “This includes how the striking parties will handle themselves during the strike so there is high possibility that we will not see the repeat of what happened in 2006,” said Philemon Bhebhe, SA Transport and Allied Workers’ Union (Satawu) national security coordinator. Twenty-three unions have referred a wage dispute to the CCMA for mediation after a deadlock on their demand for a R900 (roughly 16%) national monthly wage increase every year over the next three years. Employers have offered a 3.5% increase. The last time the industry saw a wage increase was in 2019, when the unions secured a 8.5% hike. Bhebhe said they referred the dispute on 13 July and the CCMA has 30 days to bring the parties to the table, mediate and offer recommendations to bring the parties closer. “If the parties fail to find each other and reach an agreement, then we will have to issue a strike notice. We have not heard anything from the CCMA but it is still early days,” he said. If not averted, the strike will result in private and public infrastructure, including police stations and government offices, without private guards. Of the total registered security officers, almost 560,000 (employees, independent contractors, in-house security officers) are actively deployed. Bhebhe said currently the lowest grade security guard was earning a basic monthly salary of R4,300. If they are successful, this will increase to R5,475 by the March next year, and in the third year the basic salary should be about R8,100.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Sipho Mabena at The Citizen
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page