Fedusa, Untu to shut down commuter train services nationwide on July 26
The Federation of Unions of South Africa (Fedusa) and its commuter rail transport affiliate, the United National Transport Union (Untu), plan to shut down Metrorail’s commuter train operations across the country on July 26.
Fedusa says the shutdown is part of a national day of protest against “extremely poor and dangerous Metrorail passenger train services” that violate all health and safety provisions and that are characterised by “perpetually late trains, deliberate acts of arson and endless fatal accidents”.
The objective is to force the Presidency to declare the passenger rail service crisis a “national disaster”, thereby facilitating the deployment of the South African National Defence Force to safeguard rail assets and combat railway crime.
Additionally, Fedusa and Untu want the Department of Transport, the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (PRASA), the Railway Safety Regulator and the South African Police Services to take immediate remedial action, including replacing old, broken or stolen infrastructure and equipment and reconstituting “a well resourced Railway Police”.
The planned shutdown comes after the National Economic Development and Labour Council awarded Fedusa a Section 77 Socioeconomic Strike Certificate in terms of the Labour Relations Act 1995.
This award enables all workers and society at large to take part in the protest march.
Fedusa says that while it wants to believe in President Cyril Ramaphosa’s dream, articulated during his second State of the Nation Address last month, “the nightmare our members have to endure daily on bullet ridden trains forces us to abandon the hope of bullet trains right now”.
Meanwhile, PRASA spokesperson Nana Zenani tells Engineering News Online that the agency respects employees’ constitutional right to participate in such protest action.
“PRASA will ensure that the necessary contingency plans are in place to ensure that the protest action does not negatively affect the operations of the business, in particular the movement of passengers,” she adds.
Comments
Press Office
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation