The two-biggest unions at the Passenger Rail Agency SA (Prasa) are set to hold an urgent meeting with the rail operator group’s CEO, Hishaam Emeran, over what they call a “flawed” retrenchment process affecting over 600 workers.
In a joint statement on Thursday, the United National Transport Union (Untu), the majority union at Prasa, and the rival SA Transport and Allied Workers Union (Satawu), said the scheduled meeting follows the rail operator’s decision to implement a section 189 process affecting the mainline passenger services’ employees.
“Prasa has issued retrenchment letters stating the entity’s position to retrench over 600 workers, a move that labour finds unacceptable and has deemed a jobs bloodbath within the state-owned enterprise (SOE),” the joint statement read.
The parastatal incurred irregular expenditure of R3.8bn in 2022/23, earning a qualified audit opinion from the Auditor-General (AG) for the period. From 2018/19 to 2021/22, the AG issued a disclaimer on its financial statements, which signifies that the accounts cannot be relied on and often suggests the company is in a parlous financial state.
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