Berry exports from South Africa could be dealt a crippling blow if thousands of workers from the country’s state-owned enterprise for logistics continue with wage-related strike action.
Since the United National Transport Union (Untu) started striking on Friday, and with the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (Satawu) joining in from today, it has emerged that 30 000 jobs in the sector are at stake every day that berry exports are compromised by Transnet’s labour issues.
According to Justin Mudge, who chairs BerriesZA, the export season had only just got under way with the first major shipment last week and another crucial eight weeks lying ahead.
“We should see significant volumes of berries to be exported. We really cannot afford to have another disruption this year,” he said.
BerriesZA CEO, Brent Walsh, stressed that labour disputes and the resulting industrial action couldn’t have come at a worse possible time for berry exporters.
“The latest strike follows the industry being hit with product rejection rates from receiving clients skyrocketing to a quarter of a billion rand last year due to the ongoing poor performance of the ports.
“As a result, over a third of local berry producers are currently not profitable.”
In the meantime Untu, Satawu and Transnet entered last-minute discussions at the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration to avoid labour action.
Untu General Secretary Cobus van Vuuren said they were hoping Transnet would listen to their guidance and suggestions about meeting employees’ demands for a 12-13.5% salary increase.
The SOE won’t budge beyond 3.4% though.
It has said that 66% of its operating costs are spent on wages, an expense Transnet said was not sustainable.
