BL Premium reports that the strike by thousands of rail, pipeline and ports workers at Transnet is set to enter its sixth day on Tuesday after mediated talks to end the stalemate over higher wages failed to resolve a deadlock.

“We regret that despite the efforts of the CCMA, the parties were unable to reach each other,” said Department of Employment and Labour Minister Thulas Nxesi, who intervened in the talks between union leaders and Transnet facilitated by the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA). In an attempt to break the deadlock, Nxesi invoked a labour law provision that empowers him to direct the director of the CCMA to establish an advisory arbitration panel, in the public interest, to facilitate the resolution of the dispute. The industrial action, which has forced Transnet to invoke force majeure and reflects wider worker frustration over the cost of living crisis, has started to operationally hit the state-owned company’s biggest clients and some of the country’s biggest corporate taxpayers. The industrial action by the SA Transport and Allied Workers’ Union and the United National Transport Union, which account for the majority of Transnet’s 55,000-strong workforce, rippled through the stock market on Monday. But Transnet said on Monday that contingency plans were in place to soften the impact on businesses. The two striking unions are demanding an increase of between 12% and 13.5%, while the employer is offering an increase of between 3% and 4%.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Nico Gous, Andries Mahlangu & Thando Maeko at BusinessLive (subscriber access only)

Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page