Tomorrow, 12th April, may see a major bus strike hitting the country if wage negotiations do not go well by midnight according to The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa).
Numsa, along with about 16 other trade unions have been locked down in negotiations with bus companies regarding wages and the working hours of drivers across the country.
Talks have been on going since February, but an agreement is yet to be reached between all parties as trade unions demand a 12% annual increase, but companies are offering 7.5% over three years.
Workers are tired of starvation wages & poor working conditions. @SABCNewsOnline.@eNCA .@JacaNews .@dailysunsa .@TheStar_news #Busstrike
— NUMSA (@Numsa_Media) April 11, 2017
We really hope negotiations go well to avoid the strike.Many Commuters who uses bus services will be stranded & we cannot risk their safety
— PutcoBuses (@PutcoBusses) April 11, 2017
The bus services to be affected should an agreement not be reached tonight include Gautrain, Putco, Rea Vaya, Mgqibelo, Mayibuye, Buscor, Megabus, Mega Express, Bojanala, Gauteng Coaches, Itereleng, Ipelegeng, Atamelang, Greyhound, Golden Arrow in the Western Cape and Autopax, which operates Translux and City-to-City long distance buses.
@thomjohnson88 @PutcoBusses #BusStrike Putco says if workers decide to embark on a national strike by midnight about 1300 of its buses would be affected: @ewnreporter
— City of Joburg (@CityofJoburgZA) April 11, 2017
@tumisole @Silangwe Our bus service will be disrupted from 12 April 2017 until further notice due to the nationwide strike over wages. Trains are unaffected.
— Gautrain (@TheGautrain) April 11, 2017
‼️#NationwideBusStrike to impact on #ReaVaya services, MetroBus will not be affected… @ReaVayaBus #BusStrike #JHBTraffic ^NS pic.twitter.com/Eh9NU8Zyrg
— City of Joburg (@CityofJoburgZA) April 11, 2017
Scores could be affected
Should the strike go ahead tomorrow, it has the potential to seriously affect the movement of quite a number of South Africans.
According to StatsSA, 20.1% of local households use buses regularly. A total of 7.6% of the local workforce use buses to get to work.
Schools are closed, but tomorrow is the day opposition parties will be marching to the Union Buildings in Pretoria to demand that President Jacob Zuma step down from his position. The bus strike could likely affect travels heading there.
Numsa has urged commuters to make plans for alternative modes of transport should the bus strike go ahead.
[Image – City of Cape Town]
