Durban - There were disruptions at Durban and Richards Bay ports and to train operations north of Durban yesterday as some Transnet workers embarked on a strike.
The strike comes after wage negotiations between Transnet and the United National Transport Union (Untu) and the South African Transport Workers’ Union (Satawu) deadlocked.
While Untu said it was embarking on a protected strike, Transnet said it believed the strike was unprotected.
Satawu said it had served Transnet with a 48-hour notice and planned for workers to start striking on Monday,
According to the Durban metro police, access to the Durban port was blocked by striking workers yesterday morning, but police dispersed the workers and the route was reopened.
In Richards Bay, uMhlathuze Municipality ward 2 councillor Christo Botha said striking workers tried to block several roads to the port with trucks.
“There were a couple of incidents where they tried to obstruct access by dumping cement and other objects,” said Botha, referring to an incident captured on video which appears to show cement pouring on to a road from a truck.
The Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) said its North Coast corridor had been severely affected by the strike, resulting in the immediate suspension of the train service from Durban to oThongathi.
Provincial Prasa spokesperson Zama Nomnganga said the train service was under the control of Transnet and had been affected by the strike.
Gavin Kelly, CEO of the Road Freight Association, said if Transnet operations were slowed down, delayed or terminated, the cost to the economy would be immense.
“Not only will there be immediate costs due to penalties for delays (imposed by shipping lines), but also in the various depots and cargo holding areas, and the customers may start rejecting cargoes.”
Kelly added that South Africa could not afford a strike in any port, terminal or other facility which would give further cause for foreign investors to refrain from investing, or to withdraw investment.
Director of freight company KZN Customs Clearing and Forwarding, Chris Moodley, said the strike had also hit truckers.
“This impacts negatively at all points of the supply and demand chain. If Transnet was proactive with this matter, it could have been resolved without a key gateway in Africa being shut down. Importers, transporters and clearing agents now face a dire situation in terms of demurrage and storage charges.”
Dr Sanele Gumede, an economics lecturer at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, said the whole supply chain would be affected by the disruptions.
“Businesses would have promised customers that they would be getting certain products and this won’t happen. All this will lead to loss in business. Remember, this affects us all. We will have higher prices in stores because of the delay in delivery of goods.”
Gumede added that there would also be vessels that may not have been able to offload their cargo.
“This will lead to additional port charges. The trucks will also be impacted as they can’t get to the port to pick up containers and this will lead to huge losses for trucking companies. The major concern is that the longer this strike goes on, the more increases there will be.”
A worker, who spoke to The Mercury on condition of anonymity, said they just wanted a liveable wage increase.
“The cost of living is just too much, fuel is still expensive, there are interest rate hikes and constant load shedding. This has made life difficult and we need an increase that will help us to live a normal life. We have families to support and the increase is just not enough.”
Ayanda Shezi, Transnet spokesperson, said Transnet SOC Ltd was aware that some employees across its operations were embarking on “strike action following non-resolution in the ongoing wage negotiations”.
“Since tabling an initial offer, Transnet has made concerted efforts by improving its wage offers on a further four occasions, in spite of the operational and financial challenges facing the organisation, understanding fully the impact any strike action would have on employees, industry and the economy.”
She added that any strike action taking place presently is “unprotected, as one of the unions, Untu had not followed the prescripts as set down in the Labour Relations Act” before embarking on strike.
Shezi added that Transnet’s primary focus was to avoid mass industrial action, as this would have a profound impact on economic activity across all sectors, and urged workers to consider the long-term consequences of the strike.
Transnet added that it remained committed to discussing the revised offer with the unions.
“In the event of mass industrial action, contingency plans will be implemented and the company will do all in its power to ensure the safety of personnel and facilities.
“Staff have also been informed that the principle of no work, no pay shall be enforced.”