TimesLIVE reports that outsourced Transnet cleaners engaged in an unprotected strike in Durban over unpaid wages on Thursday.

Workers employed by Masihloniphaneni Trading – a company outsourced by Transnet to provide cleaning services – staged a stay-away on Ely Road in Bayhead, Durban. According to Justice Duma, one of the protesting workers, they had not been paid their May salaries more than a week after their supposed payday, which he said was a regular occurrence. “This is the second month in a row that this has happened to us in this company. Contractually we have to be paid on the 25th, but last month we were paid on the 30th. This time it’s been over a week, but nothing has been communicated to us,” he stated. According to Duma, Masihloniphaneni got the Transnet cleaning tender in April, replacing Hlabane Trading, although the new service provider retained the workers. Comparing the two, Duma said both companies had been paying them later than the agreed-upon pay date, but the difference was in communication. A Transnet official who met with the workers assured them the problem was not with Masihloniphaneni. He put them on a call with a senior official who confirmed that Transnet had not paid the service provider for the two months. He said the company would release the funds to the service provider on Thursday, but they might not immediately reflect. Satawu’s Jason Kunene said they had asked a manager from Transnet Property to meet with the affected parties within 24 hours to explain what happened and discuss a way forward. Workers agreed to go back to work for the time being.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Lwazi Hlangu at BusinessLive

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