The Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA), on Friday, dodged the bullet in the attachment and removal of its assets from the Umjantshi House headquarters in Braamfontein to recover more than R100 million in wage increases owed to workers for the second year of a wage agreement reached in 2020.
Reports were that the sheriff had already identified but not removed the parastatals assets after frantic moves by the entity’s legal team to engage over the possible payment of at least half of the amount in respect of a 5% wage agreement for the second year of the three year wage deal agreement.
‘’Half of the money has been promised to be paid as wages for the workers. Nothing has been cast in stone, but they may potentially pay,’’ the United National Transport Union's (UNTU) General Secretary Cobus van Vuuren said.
The battle is not over, as PRASA has already reneged on the third-year wage increase agreement, which was to start at the beginning of April for a higher wage increase.
‘’At the end of the day, the Sheriff's office said they would come back on Monday to attach and remove if there is no firm agreement between the parties,’’ van Vuuren said.
UNTU has on its own initiative collated some of PRASA's assets in different regions to aid the process of attachment and removal, while the Friday action had targeted the Umjantshi Headquarters.
UNTU brought an urgent application against Prasa in December 2020 after it failed to pay the first year of the multi-term agreement concluded in September 2020 at the Prasa Bargaining Forum after collective bargaining.
UNTU got confirmation from its legal team that its urgent application against PRASA in the Labour Court had succeeded.
UNTU is asking to court to compel the state-owned enterprise (SOE) to pay the 5% wage increase it agreed to in a multiterm wage agreement. Prasa failed to pay at the end of April 2021.
This is the second time that UNTU approached the Labour Court to enforce payment of the current multi-term agreement.
Van Vuuren said in 2021, the process hit a snag when the Council for Conciliation Mediation and Conciliation (CCMA) did not give a favourable conclusion, which compelled the union again to approach the Labour Court and obtain the current intervention.
In congratulating its fellow trade union, the Federation of Union South AFRICA (FEDUSA) said collective bargaining is a fundamental right in our Constitution. It is one of the pillars of the Labour Relations Act and is rooted in the International Labour Organisation (ILO) constitution and a fundamental core of its conventions.
‘’The two-year-long battle to get UNTU members what is due to them has finally paid off, but the war is far from over. However, FEDUSA would like to thank UNTU for their determination to fight until the very last end. It is disappointing that UNTU had to go to lengths in their fight for an agreement that was not honoured by PRASA. Therefore, FEDUSA calls on PRASA to accept the Labour Court’s judgment and implement it accordingly,’’ it said.
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