UTATU United Transport and Allied Trade Union

TRANSNET has accused Jane Barrett, the lead negotiator at the SA Transport and Allied Workers Union (Satawu) of misrepresenting its 11 percent wage offer to workers. The company said the offer would result in a total cost to company of 11.2 percent for some employees.

On Monday night the state-owned enterprise dismissed a number of issues raised by Barrett, labelling her comments as untrue and malicious.

Transnet said its offer would result in a differentiated increase percentage across different salary bands.

"The total increase which employees will receive range from a minimum of 9.7 percent up to 15.3 percent depending on their specific allowances and Transmed membership," said John Dludlu, the spokesman for the state-owned entity

Satawu and United Transport and Allied Union (Utatu) have been on strike for the past nine days demanding a 15 percent pay increase across the board instead of the 11 percent offered by Transnet on pensionable earnings.

The initial offer was an 8 percent increase on the basic salary and all the other benefits. Unions have said workers would be worse off with the 11 percent increase because it would not be applied to all the other benefits.

Dludlu said the 11 percent offer was made as a settlement proposal. "The key focus of the new offer was, at the request of the Satawu elected leadership, a focus on increasing the pensionable earnings of employees and if necessary reducing non-pensionable elements such as allowances. 

 "In the negotiations, a new package was developed which resulted in employees having a greater long-term benefit by the 11 percent increase to pensionable earnings," said Dludlu.

It said the new offer also included the introduction of a new medical aid dispensation, an 8 percent increase to shift and stand-by allowances, a hike in the overtime earnings threshold resulting in a 12.3 percent increase for some employees in Transnet Freight Rail.

Transnet said an average employee would now earn R157 000 a year with the 11 percent increase.

Satawu secretary-general Zenzo Mahlangu said Transnet's claims were false. He said the union's position was that there should be reasonable increases on both pensionable and non-pensionable earnings. "If you look at the 11 percent, compared with the original offer, it is not the best," said Mahlangu.

The two parties were scheduled to meet last night.