Are Yeng bus rapid transit bus under metro police watch on Madiba Street on Friday amid tensions and threats of intimidation at sister entity Tshwane Bus Service. Picture: Jacques Naude / Independent Newspapers
The SA Municipal Workers Union (Samwu) in Tshwane has made allegations that there is a plot hatched by some people at the City of Tshwane to collapse the labour union at the Tshwane Bus Service (TBS)
The allegations by the union were made public in the wake of the dismissal of 33 TBS bus drivers affiliated to Samwu for taking part in an illegal strike in May.
The affected workers embarked on a protest against the decision to fire them on Thursday and Friday, resulting in the interruption of bus operation and commuters left stranded.
Regional Samwu chairperson Ngwako Mathabathe said: “We are aware that there are people carrying out a mandate of collapsing Samwu at the TBS.”
He said workers implicated in an illegal strike were from both Samwu and Independent Municipal and Allied Trade Union (Imatu), but only those from Samwu were shown the door.
“What happened was that the City of Tshwane management subjected our union members to a disciplinary hearing together with 15 Imatu members. During the hearing the management struck a deal with the Imatu members, who were given an option of admitting guilt for wrongdoing and subsequently receive a final warning. The Imatu workers agreed to the proposed deal and they were as a result released from the hearing,”he said.
Municipal spokesperson Lindela Mashigo reported on Thursday that there will be disruptions to the bus operations in the afternoon affecting commuters due to an illegal protest by a group of bus drivers believed to be Samwu members.
“The protesting group, which closed the gates of the city’s C De Wet bus depot after having unofficially being made aware of the disciplinary committee’s verdict, is part of the 33 bus drivers who are in the process of being served with dismissal letters for participating in an unprotected strike in May this year,” he said.
The drivers, he said, appeared before the city’s disciplinary committee last month.
Mashigo said the protesting group allegedly intimidated some of their co-workers willing to honour their afternoon shifts.
But, Mathabathe said workers were reacting to rumours that they have been dismissed after the employer failed to formally inform them about the disciplinary hearing verdict.
“The person who represented them was yet to convene them when they heard about the verdict,”he said.
In May the City said drivers abruptly abandoned their shifts shortly after they asked to see the municipal manager Johann Mettler.
At the time Mathabathe said workers wanted to meet with Mettler in order to iron out issues pertaining to occupational safety and health at their Pretoria West depot.
Their concerns, he said, were raised after one of them was attacked in Pretoria West by a group of commuters.
On Friday, he said Samwu would lodge a labour dispute at the South African Local Government Bargaining Council with a view to reverse the dismissal of workers.
Pretoria News
rapula.moatshe@inl.co.za
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