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CCMA proposes new settlement proposal to labour unions, Transnet to end crippling strike

The Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA) has presented a settlement proposal to labour unions and Transnet with a multi-year agreement to end the crippling strike at the parastatal.

Transnet strike

The United National Transport Union (Untu) and the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (Satawu) have been on industrial action for nine days, demanding above-inflation wage increases between 12% and 13.5%.

ALSO READ: Effects of Transnet strike over wages set to worsen economy

On Thursday, the unions rejected Transnet’s revised three-year wage offer of 4.5% for the first year and a 5% increase for the next two years to end the ongoing strike.

CCMA’s settlement proposal

In a bid to find common ground on the salary negotiations, CCMA commissioners who have been facilitating the talks between the employer and unions, tabled a settlement proposal of 6%.

Untu on Friday said the terms and conditions of the multi-year agreement start from 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2025.

The CCMA is proposing 6% for the first year, 5.5% for the second and 6% for the final year.

Untu’s general secretary Cobus van Vuuren said the union was consulting its members on the new three-year wage offer settlement proposal.

“It must be made clear that this is a proposal that has been presented by the CCMA commissioner to both labour and Transnet without any prejudice, this is not an Untu position, and it is not a Transnet position. It is a position that is proposed by the CCMA Commissioner to try and get parties to common ground.

“As a mandated driven organisation, we have to approach our members for a mandate to determine whether the proposal by the CCMA commissioner is accepted or rejected by the Untu constituency,” Van Vuuren said in a statement.