COSATU calls on Putco to sit down with unions to avert the dismissal of 1000 workers

7 September 2022

The Congress of South African Trade Unions is deeply concerned by the reports that the Public Utility Transport Corporation (Putco) has expressed an intention to dismiss 1,000 employees for standing up for their rights and demanding an inflation related wage increase.

We offer our solidarity to the workers and intend to give support to our affiliated union SATAWU to defend the workers and prevent their dismissal. It is unacceptable that a bus company that enjoys public subsidies is failing to handle this labour dispute with the diligence it deserves but is threatening to send more breadwinners on the unemployment line.

We call on the management of Putco to sit down with unions and other stakeholders to address the concerns that are currently on the table.

The Federation has committed itself to leading workers in their quest for radical improvements in the conditions of service and equity in their wages and benefits. Unemployed levels have shot up, wages have been severely depressed, and working families’ livings standards have been reduced.

About 75% of the population in South Africa lives on less than R100 a day. While senior managers are paying themselves exorbitant salaries and bonuses, it is workers in general who are berated by purveyors of bourgeois ideology for demanding a living wage.

Employers should understand that if they fail to soberly handle this growing resentment, it will only harden attitudes and fuel the rising militancy and struggles for better wages and better working conditions.

Issued by Sizwe Pamla, National Spokesperson, COSATU, 7 September 2022