Satawu to poll members on Transnet revised offer

South African Transport and Allied Workers’ Union (Satawu) will once again poll its members on Transnet’s revised wage offer, after the previous one made in December last year, was rejected for its failure to address critical worker concerns.

In early December, Transnet made what it termed its final wage proposal after labour completely turned down its opening offer. On consulting members in the remainder of the month and in January, Satawu received an overpowering mandate to reject the offer.

Members were unhappy, as the proposal granted no increase in housing allowances and medical aid for all three years of the multiyear agreement.

Negotiations resumed yesterday, 15 January, at the Transnet Bargaining Council, where management was prompted to revise its offer after receiving feedback from workers.

The employer’s revised offer is as follows:

Across the board wage increase:  6,5 per cent for year one; 7,25 per cent for year two and 7.5 per cent for Year three.

Housing allowance: 4,5 per cent increase for each of the three years of the agreement.

Medical aid: 5,5 per cent increase for the first year; 6 per cent for the second year and 6.5 per cent for the third year.

Guaranteed no retrenchments for all three years of the agreement.

Transnet management has indicated that it will look into ways of increasing productivity in order to fund the revised offer.

Satawu will consult its members on whether to accept the latest offer. Negotiations are set to continue on 1 February.

Parties have also agreed to set up a task team after this round of negotiations has been finalised.

The task team consisting of labour and management will look into the feasibility of restructuring the housing allowance so as not to widen the gap between workers at the low end of the pay scale and those at the high end.

The results of the study will be utilised in the next round of wage negotiations in 2020.