New Age2.png Truck Strike Coming R6000 Minimum wage, immediate transformation among SATAWU demands Itumeleng Mafisa and Karabo Moloi, The New Age, Johannesburg, 28 August 2015 Truck drivers are threatening to bring the South African economy to a halt. The South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (SATAWU) says truck drivers are heading for a strike if an agreement with the trucking industry is not reached. The union's general secretary, Zenzo Mahlangu, said workers' demands included a minimum salary of R6000. "We have been engaged in this process since June. Dispute meetings were held and parties further agreed to continue in an attempt to find a solution to the dispute. "In terms of the protocol agreement, we were supposed to be on strike but we have continued to push for further meetings in order to delay issuing of a notice for industrial action," Mahlangu said. Employers are offering increases of 6%, 5% and 5.5% over the next three years. Mahlangu expressed concern at the lack of transformation in the industry, with workers still being paid "slave wages". The latest stats from the sector indicate that the industry was still operating "apartheid" style. About 47% of top management positions in the sector are occupied by white males, 46.1% of senior management positions are occupied by white males, 39.8% of professionally qualified employees are white males. "Only 19.5% of top management positions are held by African males, 12.4% of senior management positions are held by African males, 15.1% of professionally qualified employees are African males." Mahlangu called for immediate transformation. He said in some instances drivers would be put under pressure to make more loads to make more money. A truck driver who asked not to be named said the drivers would often become victims of crime on the roads. He said he was worried that even after retiring following more than two decades of service, he would not have a provident fund. "The working conditions are bad. There are managers who exploit workers and do not even allow workers to be unionised. "We are prevented from being good fathers. Sometimes you have to pay parking for the company." Lerato Mashabane, said it was high time employers, the government and the public recognised the "true drivers of the economy". Mashabane, 40, a driver for five years, said most drivers earned per load delivered and since they had families to support, they barely got a chance to sleep. "You sleep, eat and even bathe while driving. We add to the economy but no one cares," he said. The Road Freight Association declined to comment. <mailto:[email protected]> [email protected] From: <http://tnaepaper.co.za/> http://tnaepaper.co.za/ -- -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] . --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "YCLSA Discussion Forum" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
