Workers at South Africa’s state-owned logistics firm Transnet will go on strike from Thursday over a wage dispute, two labour unions said, in a move that could halt the export of key minerals and other cargo.
Transnet has been operating below capacity due to a shortage of locomotives, poor maintenance and vandalism and theft of its infrastructure, costing miners billions of rand in potential revenue. A strike would paralyse freight rail services and impact South Africa’s ports, also managed by Transnet.
The United National Transport Union (UNTU), the biggest labour union at the company, said it had served notice to begin industrial action on Thursday. The other union at Transnet, South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (SATAWU), said it would join in the strike from Monday.
