The Road Freight Association has urged thousands of striking Transnet port and rail workers to desist from destroying the country’s infrastructure and damaging its international trading reputation.
RFA CEO Gavin Kelly sounded his call to workers on Thursday in reaction to several protest videos that were shared on social media after they downed tools in protest over a protracted wage dispute.
Transnet employees embarked on the industrial action at the country’s ports after rejecting Transnet’s 1.5% wage increase offer, which the employer on Wednesday night increased to between 3% and 4%, after marathon all-night negotiations with trade unions. The United Transport Union (UNTU) said it had no mandate to accept the adjusted offer and 83% of workers had earlier voted in favour of the strike, which commenced as a stayaway at 00h01 on Thursday after the employer failed to declare picketing rules.
UNTU warned its members in a circular, not to engage in protests at this stage, to remain within the realm of protected industrial action.
However, several videos of Transnet workers marching in Cape Town and of protestors burning rubble outside a depot in Empangeni and blocking the main entrance to Durban Port surfaced on social media on Thursday. A video of a truck pouring what appears to be cement or concrete on to a road near the entrance of Durban Port’s Container Terminal 1 was also widely shared. Photographs of sand dumped on a road in the vicinity of the Port of Richards Bay were also published via WhatsApp.
Kelly vehemently condemned the violence and destruction of infrastructure and called for the strikers to consider the consequences.
“The recent scenes around the ports where Transnet employees are perpetrating acts of violence and destruction or just destroying little bits of the streets or roads, or as seen on a couple of videos doing the rounds on social media, pouring cement or concrete on to the roads is really not good news,” Kelly said.
“We need to understand as South Africans that when we are unhappy with conditions, and in this case the conditions of employment, that we protest in a manner that doesn’t destroy the jobs and opportunities of other South Africans – that it doesn’t destroy the image of South Africa,” he said.
He said strikers should also ensure their protests did not create a massive clean-up task or lead to employers having to shut down their businesses.
“In this case it is about the logistics chain, where we fall behind in trying to import and export – that kills businesses in South Africa and there is very little chance of some of those businesses surviving this sort of delay and destruction,” Kelly said.
“We call on all involved in protesting their employment conditions to rethink the way in which they protest and to keep in mind that tomorrow they need to go back to work. To those strikers who are unhappy with their employment conditions, please find other ways of venting your frustration. Please do not destroy the infrastructure that SA requires to ensure a better life for all,” he added.
