The
nationwide bus strike is set to intensify as the South African Transport and
Allied Workers Union (Satawu) threatened to bring in more of its partners as
the industrial action enters its second week.
Tens
of thousands of commuters in and around the Nelson Mandela Bay – Port Elizabeth,
Despatch and Uitenhage, have been left stranded as everyone else in
Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town.
The
strike paralysed the services of the affordable Algoa Bus Company. Not certain
if the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality’s Libhongolethu Bus Routes had been
affected as well.
Commuters
have turned to minibus taxis, causing congestion at Port Elizabeth’s major taxi
ranks in the townships and in the city centre during peak hours.
This
week, employees of the Greyhound and Citi liner suspended their strike after
their union, the Transport and Omnibus Workers Union (Towu) accepted a 9% wage
increase. Towu general secretary Tony Franks said the union hoped other parties
would accept the offer in order to end the strike.
Other inter-city buses – Intercape and Roadlink were never affected by the current bus strike and have been ferrying passengers without interruptions.
Still, Vincent Masoga, spokesman for Satawu, said the union was rejecting the 9%
increase offered by employers. Talks between bus companies and Satawu have been
deadlocked since February.
"At some point we were willing to settle for a
13% increase but the employers aggravated a bad situation and now we are
adamant that we want our initial ask of 18%," he said.
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