JOHANNESBURG - The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa has threatened to take bus company Putco to the Labour Court after talks over the treatment of suspended drivers collapsed.
A tug of war between the union and the bus operator is intensifying as NUMSA said the livelihoods of employees are on the line.More than 100 bus drivers were suspended for participating in an unprotected strike in 2022. NUMSA spokesperson Phakamile Hlubi-Majola said they didn’t find common ground during talks on Tuesday.
“Putco wants to dictate to us on how to defend workers. Putco has demanded that we guarantee that the CCMA arbitration hearings are conducted and concluded by the 5th of April 2024, or else, workers will not be paid their salaries whilst on suspension. “The union cannot agree to this because there are at least 120 workers who must be defended. It is clear that Putco is attempting to sabotage our cases with this demand. If we were to adhere to this, dozens of workers would lose their jobs, because we would have failed to defend them adequately,” she said.