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The Citizen reports that in January Transnet Freight Rail (TFR) employees discovered that they had been paid double salaries, but now the employer is demanding that they pay back the cash as soon as possible.
According to trade unions, a technical glitch occurred when management switched from one bank to another, resulting in double payments. The United National Transport Union (Untu) and SA Transport and Allied Workers’ Union (Satawu) have slammed the state entity’s insistence that the extra money be paid back within two months. The unions say that most of their members would prefer that their accumulated leave days be deducted as reimbursement, instead of cash back. Several meetings have been held this month, but no agreement has been reached. Untu’s John Pereira accused TFR of breaching clause 34 of the Basic Employment Conditions Act. “Clause 34 2(d) says an employer is not allowed to take more than a quarter of someone’s salary for repayments. That’s what we’ve been fighting over. They can at least suggest four instalments.” He went on to say: “Employees have always had an option of encashing their accumulative leave days. This is voluntary and not something that can be enforced. They have requested to utilise their accumulative leave days to enable them to pay the monies owed.” Satawu’s Anele Kiet said those who could afford to repay in cash could do so within 12 months, as per the existing collective agreement between the parties. “We had a discussion with management on Monday, and they came up with various suggestions that are not even in line with the collective bargaining agreement. We opposed that as unions, because Transnet clearly wants to get the money back as quickly as possible. We rejected their two-month deduction option because this [overpayments] was not the workers’ fault,” Kiet indicated.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Getrude Makhafola at The Citizen (subscriber access only)
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page