South Africa’s Transnet, Union in Talks to Avoid Strike

(Bloomberg) —

The biggest labor union at South Africa’s state-owned port and rail company are starting final talks with a third-party arbitrator to resolve a wage dispute and stave off a potential strike by thousands of workers.  

Should the talks taking place at the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration on Wednesday and Thursday fail, the United National Transport Union — which represents more than half of the more than 46,000 employees at Transnet SOC Ltd. — will issue a 48-hour strike notice, UNTU said in a statement. 

Members of the union this week approved “taking to the streets” to have their wage demands met, UNTU said. 

UNTU rejected an offer by the company to increase pay by 6% over the next two years and 5.5% in the third year, instead demanding 10% in the first year alone. The smaller South African Transport and Allied Workers’ Union accepted the pay offer in March. The nation’s annual inflation slowed to 2.7% in March. 

The wage dispute comes as Transnet works to recover from years of corruption, theft and deal with dilapidated equipment that has posed a key threat to the South African economy and its exports. Inefficient rail lines and ports have sent coal and iron-ore exports to multi-decade lows and cost the nation more than 400 billion rand ($21.8 billion) in 2022, according to the Treasury. 

A World Bank study ranks key ports run by Transnet, which has 138 billion rand of debt,  among the least efficient worldwide.  

© 2025 Bloomberg L.P.

Subscribe for Daily Maritime Insights

Sign up for gCaptain’s newsletter and never miss an update

— trusted by our 109,095 members