Johannesburg – The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (NUMSA) has received a section 189 notice from Unitrans Passenger stating that the company contemplates the closure of its business.
Unitrans owns Greyhound, Magic Transfers and Megabus.
Unitrans has stated that its business was negatively affected by the covid-19 restrictions which were placed on travel.
The management claims that the organisation has experienced “extremely difficult trading conditions” which have negatively affected the company’s financial performance.
It also claims that it does not foresee sustainable revenue for the foreseeable future.
Unitrans Passenger employees more than 3000 employees from its various passenger divisions.
About 693 employees will be affected by the contemplated closure of the companies Greyhound, Magic Bus and Megabus Midrand.
Also read: Luxury bus service Greyhound to stop operating
Should Unitrans close, this would be a serious blow to workers and their families’.
“We cannot afford as a country to lose any more jobs as this will simply worsen conditions for the working class and the poor. Stats SA confirmed that one worker supports five to six extended family members on his or her wages in this country therefore, if these workers lose their jobs this will negatively impact on thousands of people and the economy as a whole. We also feel that governments intervention during the lockdown was far from adequate because it did not provide sufficient cushion and support for small and medium sized companies, and provided even less support for workers and their families’,” Numsa said in a statement.
Last year the expanded definition of unemployment increased to a staggering 43% in the third quarter.
Numsa further said, “Unfortunately, Unitrans Passenger only informed us on Tuesday (2 February 2021) that it anticipates total closures and the last day of operating to be the 15 February 2021 – a mere two weeks’ notice!”
“Unitrans has from the onset undermined the prescripts of the Labour Relations Act that imposes a mandatory 60-day time period for consultation. NUMSA is weighing its options and does not rule out the possibility of approaching the labour court to interdict the entire process. We are waiting for the CCMA to indicate to us when they will hand down a date for the first consultation.”
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