THE National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) on Tuesday, 4 July said they secured an inflation wage increase of 8% across the board for all workers at Gautrain.
Numsa said that currently the Consumer Price Inflation (CPI) is at 6,9%.
“The union has been engaged in wage talks with Gautrain management since April this year, and we deadlocked in June. Our members balloted for a strike on Friday but fortunately, management requested a meeting over the weekend and made an offer to settle this round of wage talks,” said Numsa general secretary Irvin Jim.
He said the wage agreement is broken down to an 8% wage increase across the board, while housing allowance has been increased by 10% to R1 210, transport allowance increases by 5% to R105, while the KPI bonus will increase by R500 to R9 000, with night shift allowance going to R35 per hour.
“The Gautrain staff card will remain in place and continue to be used from home to work. No worker will have to pay to travel to use the Gautrain to and from work! The agreement is a one-year agreement valid from 1 July 2023 to 30 June 2024,” said Jim.
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The union said they welcomed the agreement because it resolves the burning issues which sparked the dispute with the employer.
"We secured an above inflation increase of 8% at a time when most employers are not granting any increases, and we secured a double-digit percent increase on housing allowance.
“Initially the employer wanted to abolish the housing allowance, but we managed to retain and increase it. We also managed to persuade the employer to reinstate the staff cards for all employees. This is a positive development because our members would have been forced to pay to use the Gautrain, when travelling to and from work, and this issue almost made workers resort to strike action,” he said.
“We would not have been able to secure this without the unity of workers and their courage to defend and to fight for their gains and to improve their conditions. It is the unity of workers that shifted Gautrain management and compelled them make the necessary compromises. We call on all Numsa members and all workers at Gautrain to remain united as workers because that is the only guarantee that will secure even better wages and benefits in the next round of negotiations.”
Numsa promised to continue to fight to secure better wages and conditions for its members.
