Transnet+unions+claim+first+round,+Faniso,+B+Report




 * //Inter-ministerial task team bends on pension funds//**

=Transnet's unions claim first round=

Business Report, Johannesburg, March 23, 2006

 * By Mzwandile Faniso**

Johannesburg - The unions locked in a dispute with Transnet yesterday claimed to have won their first battle in the war against the transport parastatal's approach to its restructuring after an inter-ministerial task team supported organised labour's concerns about the loss of pension benefits for Metrorail workers.

Metrorail, Transnet's commuter rail subsidiary, was scheduled to be transferred to the SA Rail Commuter Corporation (SARCC) on April 1, but last week the transfer was postponed to May 1 after Alec Erwin, the minister of public enterprises, and the unions agreed that outstanding issues relating to workers' benefits needed to be sorted out first.

The cabinet had approved the May 1 transfer date yesterday, an official government statement said.

Randall Howard, the general secretary of the SA Transport and Allied Workers' Union (Satawu), said the unions had agreed on Monday with the inter-ministerial task team that Metrorail workers should retain their pension benefits under Transnet's pension scheme after the controversial transfer to the SARCC, which falls under the department of transport.

The unions had expected Erwin's signature to endorse the agreement before the end of business yesterday. However, Howard reported that Gaynor Kast, the minister's spokesperson, had said Erwin would not sign "anything today [yesterday]". She had refused to comment further.

Transnet and the unions held a meeting yesterday afternoon to discuss the findings of the task team and the way forward. The meeting had not finished by the time of going to press.

Earlier Howard said the inter-ministerial task team, chaired by Portia Molefe, the director-general of public enterprises, had consulted with organised labour, Transnet and the administrators of Transnet's pension schemes and those of the SARCC. The task team, which was made up of senior officials from the treasury and the departments of public enterprises and transport, had concluded by agreeing with the unions that workers should not be forced to change their pension schemes after the transfer.

"This vindicates us [the unions] that we were right all along when we said Transnet has not been consulting us on important issues that would adversely affect the workers," he said.

Shadrack Ntuli, the spokesperson for the SA Railway and Harbours Workers Union (Sarhwu), added: "It took three meetings and a total of six hours for government officials to see what Transnet could not see in 12 meetings last year."

Satawu, Sarhwu, the United Transport and Allied Trade Union and the United Association of SA embarked on a series of protracted regional strikes since January because they said the company had been making unilateral decisions on its restructuring without consulting them.

Transnet's restructuring plans involve the sale of more than 10 non-core businesses and the transfer of SAA and Metrorail to government departments. The unions want written guarantees of jobs security for at least five years after Transnet's non-core businesses are taken over by new owners and the retention of conditions of employment such as travelling allowances, working hours and housing subsidies.

514 words
 * From: http://www.busrep.co.za/index.php?fArticleId=3170953