No end to truck strike as negotiations continue

As the truck drivers' strike entered its third day, fewer than 5000 strikers continued their protest on the streets of Johannesburg.

By Sbu Mjikeliso and Zwanga Mukhuthu

17 Feb 2011

They handed a memorandum of their demands to the Road Freight Employers' Association.

The association's regional secretary, Ernest Buthelezi, received the document but said he was not confident that the strike would be resolved soon.

He said that the SA Transport and Allied Workers' Union and employer representatives were still locked in negotiations.

Speaking to the crowd outside the offices of the National Bargaining Council for the Road Freight and Logistics Industry, Satawu's Gauteng chairman, Ephraim Mphahlele, said: "They must stop their nonsense and pay workers.

"The sooner they work in the interest of the country the better."

A demand for 'six months of fully paid maternity leave' was received with a loud cheer by the protesters, though not mentioned in the memorandum.

Ben Mohajane, a striking UTi Sun Couriers driver, said: "They overcharge customers ... We are making millions for the company and they are paying us less than R4000 [a month] ... The company's profit in financial statements for the year 2009-2010 was R130-million."

Junior Nxumalo of Kelly Couriers, said: "We work 14 hours a day. We have no form of transportation ... When we work late we are forced to sleep in the toilets because we have no transport to take us home."

Source: The Times

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