The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) has vowed to investigate allegations that more than 30 Intercape bus drivers had been fired for joining a union.
The axed employees had reportedly joined the National Union for All Sectors (NUFAS).
Union rep Jean Baker said the minute the workers revealed this, they were "abused“.
“The workers had to sit in a room for 8 hours without water and food just because they refused to hand in their own cellphones and sign an attendance register.
“Two guys joined the union and they were called into a meeting and they left their cellphones and signed the register, once they were told by management that they should leave the union or we are going to dismiss you, there’s the door. Unfortunately there is no proof but they were advised to go to the police station to sign an affidavit.”
An insider said the drivers are moeg of being “ill-treated”.
“They said they drive long distances and they don’t rest. Imagine driving 18 hours and when you reach the destination you don’t sleep but get more passengers and then drive back for another 18 hours. It’s torture and people got tired of that.”
However Intercape said allegations that 33 workers were dismissed because they joined a trade union is defamatory and false.
“The facts are that the company convened meetings of all its staff members on a continuous basis. These workers who belong to a trade union, were instructed by the trade union not to follow basic instructions by the company from as trivial as to sign an attendance register to a walk-out where management wanted to discuss operational issues.
“The union, extraordinarily, confirmed in writing that they instructed their members not to cooperate with the company. The company issued warnings to those workers to indicate the seriousness of refusing to carry out reasonable and lawful instructions.
“Notwithstanding this, staff members continued to refuse to obey lawful instructions on the instructions of their trade union.
“Our lawyers (Edward Nathan Sonnenbergs) advised that we are within our rights to follow disciplinary processes leading to their dismissals.
“There are a number of union members who followed the instructions of the company and are still employed. This defies the allegation from the workers that they were dismissed because they joined a union.”
Baker explained she advised the employees to not attend the meetings because of the intimidation, adding, “The case is before the CCMA and we are looking at other avenues.”
Cosatu’s provincial secretary Malvern De Bruyn said they will be approaching Intercape for clarity.
“Workers can’t be victimised or intimidated for joining a union. Cosatu will discuss this matter with Intercape to find out what happened and allow them to respond and then based on their response we will know what our next step will be.”
mandilakhe.tshwete@inl.co.za