LEBOGANG SEALE
THE REA Vaya bus drivers’ strike seems set to enter its eighth week on Monday, unless management and the drivers reach an agreement.
Another attempt to resolve the strike through mediation at the SA Road Passenger Bargaining Council failed yesterday.
Both PioTrans, the company that operates the rapid bus service between Soweto and the Joburg CBD, and the SA Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu), which represents the drivers, failed to reach agreement over the contentious issue of wages and benefits.
The disgruntled drivers are demanding an increase in salary to R15 000, medical aid and pension allowances. The drivers earn below R6 000 a month.
After a six hour-long meeting at the bargaining council yesterday, no agreement seemed in sight.
“We only dealt with issues of common interest like medical aid and pension allowances, plus bonuses, and not salaries. There is progress,” said Eric Motshwane, PioTrans’s director of corporate affairs.
Asked if he was hopeful the crippling strike that has grounded the Rea Vaya fleet of buses could end soon, Motshwane said: “We could see buses running at the weekend, but that depends on the aptitude and commitment (from Samwu).”
Samwu organiser Menzi Luthuli was also less convincing his confidence.
“There is a way forward, from my analysis. The employer is moving (towards agreement),” he said.
After their failed bid to find a settlement at the bargaining council yesterday, PioTrans and Samwu would now meet in Parktown under the auspices of Tokiso, an alternative dispute-resolution private company.
The drivers – who had converged at the BRT depot in Dobsonville, Soweto, anticipating a deal – were disappointed.
Some of the drivers told The Star the strike would end only if the City of Joburg takes over the running of the bus service from PioTrans.
They accused PioTrans – made up of former taxi bosses – of greed, corruption and “running the service like minibus taxis”.