Tshwane leaves A Re Yeng bus drivers in a lurch
Old A Re Yeng bus drivers said they trained the new drivers only for them to be told they would no longer have jobs as the new ones will take over.
The Tshwane metro has reportedly fired without valid explanation bus drivers who had been trained to drive the new metro buses for the bus rapid transit system, A Re Yeng.
The metro allegedly hired a set of newly-qualified drivers.
One of the drivers, who requested anonymity, said in May 2015 the metro trained men and women for the sole purpose of driving the new A Re Yeng buses.
“They did not care whether we already had driver’s licences because they said these were special buses and we would be hired upon successful completion of our training,” he said adding they were taught to drive code 14 vehicles.
He said they were given extensive driving lessons at the Tshwane bus service depot in Pretoria West and Rosslyn until the metro was satisfied.
“All was fine with the training until later when the metro said training money had been exhausted and we had to pay the remaining fees out of our own pockets. To do this, they offered us a six month employment contract per person,” he said.
The A Re Yeng management then created a duty roster where an individual driver had to complete 100 hours of trips over a set period. He said this went well although some drivers failed to meet the goal.
“To our surprise, about three weeks ago management introduced a group of men and women to us and instructed us to teach them the ropes on the existing routes. We had no problem doing that until we were informed these new men and women will be taking over from us on the existing and new routes,” he said.
Following that announcement, the driver said they were served with letters stating they were no longer qualified to drive the A Re Yeng buses.
He said: “On Monday 29 February, there were one-on-one meetings between drivers and management. They told us they will be calling us before the end of the week to inform us if our contracts will be renewed or not.
“To our surprise some senior managers in the executive told us they would not entertain us as we were no longer part of the company. They would not even speak to our union representatives.”
He said many of the fired drivers had left their former work where they had proper jobs. “Why all of a sudden should they dismiss us after having wasted resources training us? How is it possible that they cut jobs and hire more people? There is no fairness here and we will camp at the bus depot on WF Nkomo Street until they talk to us.”
The new A Re Yeng bus routes were supposed to be introduced on Thursday, 3 March, said the driver. “As far as we know we are qualified drivers under their criteria so we should be given preference over the new recruits on the route linking the city centre and Pretoria North. Right now we have no jobs and demand answers,” he said.
The metro was yet to respond to a Rekord enquiry sent on Thursday.
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