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The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa, (NUMSA) has formally declared a dispute with the Bus Passengers Council. Since negotiations in this sector began earlier in the year, NUMSA has demanded a wage increase of 30 per cent across the board, and is also demanding a living wage of R15000 per month for all workers. In the wake of these tough economic times, Employers in the Bus Passenger sector have responded with an offer of just 4.5%.

The response from Employers is alarming, given that several Bus Transportation companies are guilty of abusing the basic conditions of Employment. Companies such as - Autopax, Buscor, PUTCO, Greyhound, Intercape, Golden Arrow, Mgqibelo and all others expect drivers to work 18 hour days, but only pay them for HALF of that.

Furthermore, our members are NOT being compensated for overtime and working on Public Holidays. Workers in the Bus Transportation sector are exposed to long working hours and poor working conditions, which puts both drivers and passengers at risk. Our workers and their families simply cannot exist on the low wages on offer whilst the executives in the sector reward themselves with millions. Employers claim that the current economic climate means they can’t afford to increase salaries, and yet, even at the time when the industry was doing well, those savings and profits were never passed onto our workers.

The CCMA will be facilitating mediation on the 6th of March, after which a strike certificate may be issued. A full blown industry strike is now imminent, because Employers care more about profits than people. NUMSA was expelled from COSATU for maintaining that the ANC government must address the class question in South Africa. The state must take measures to affirm blacks and Africans into a position of ownership and control of the economy and reverse decades of them being economically marginalized and dispossessed. The government has a duty to ensure that workers are paid fairly and that they are emancipated from apartheid colonial wages. The government can no longer justify the continued exploitation of our people. Our workers deserve a living wage, not just a minimum wage.

We call on workers in the industry to unite and fight for better pay and an IMPROVED quality of life, particularly in this critical time when the government and its partners in business are united in a war against workers. This government with the help of COSATU has undermined workers, first by endorsing a poverty wage of just R20 per hour, and in agreeing to change our constitutionally guaranteed right to strike. These instruments of Neo-Liberalism have united to punish workers for fighting for an improved quality of life.

Workers and their families want to be able to give their children quality education and healthcare, just like everyone else. Why must we continue to accept back breaking work, time away from our families, and low pay in exchange for a poor standard of living? When will workers in South Africa reap the full benefits of democracy? It was because of the Workers struggle that South Africa is now free of Apartheid. People died for freedom, and now the very same people who claim to be our liberators, have turned into our oppressors.
NUMSA is the largest metal workers union in South Africa and on the African continent. NUMSA is the only revolutionary radical union with a proven track record of fighting for justice and equality. NUMSA is the only former member of the Tripartite Alliance which took the moral stance of rejecting corruption by refusing to endorse the ANC and President Jacob Zuma. We call on workers of the bus passenger sector to unite behind NUMSA. You have nothing to lose except your chains

Issued by NUMSA