A GROUP of nearly 160 former Rea Vaya drivers, fired a decade ago after embarking on an unprotected strike demanding the service be run by the City of Johannesburg, are still fighting for their jobs.
The 157 bus drivers were fired for gross misconduct by PioTrans in February 2015 during the strike, which started when buses were used to block intersections in downtown Johannesburg and drivers assembling at the Library Gardens, proceeded to offices of the Johannesburg Roads Agency demanding to speak to then transport MMC Christine Walters.
The drivers were opposed to private companies, PioTrans and Litsamaiso, running the bus service and wanted it under the municipality’s full control.
The SA Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu), which is representing the group, maintained that many PioTrans bus drivers stayed away from work on that day, and others who were rostered, simply left their buses at the Ellis Park and Dobsonville depots.
However, PioTrans then delivered notices to the employees scheduled to attend disciplinary proceedings for a variety of serious misconduct claims made during the unprotected strike.
The charges included failure and/or refusal to drive on the route that was issued to them by dispatch in accordance with their waybills, failure and/or refusal to park the buses in the prescribed authorised area at the end of their route in accordance with the waybill.
The company accused the drivers of parking the buses in an unauthorised area in downtown Johannesburg, in contravention of its policies, rules, and procedures, and municipal laws.
In addition, the drivers purposely attempted to sabotage the company’s services by conspiring with other drivers to bring the company buses to a halt and left them unattended in an unauthorised area in contravention of its policies, rules, and procedures.
They were also accused of disrupting the operations and bringing services to a halt in breach of their employment contracts and/or failing to act in PioTrans’ best interests, also in breach of their contracts.
Despite facing serious charges, only nine PioTrans drivers attended their hearings and all of the 157 bus drivers were dismissed and their appeals were unsuccessful.
The matter was referred to the SA Road Passenger Bargaining Council, whose commissioner Prince Kekana declared the dismissals substantively and procedurally fair in May 2021.
Samwu later approached the Labour Court to review Kekana’s arbitration award on the grounds that he misapplied the doctrine of common purpose and that he should not have found the drivers guilty by association and should have identified individual acts of misconduct committed by all of them.
PioTrans in turn opposed the review of the arbitration award, arguing the matter cannot proceed at the Labour Court because 21 of the dismissed drivers were deceased and there is no mandate from the respective executors of their estates or notices of substitution.
The company also indicated that Samwu’s authority to act on the matter has been challenged as the drivers ceased to work and failed to attend on the same day, causing PioTrans operations to become completely non-operational.
”The misconduct extends beyond the mere abandonment of buses; it includes failing to drive their routes, sabotaging the company by halting its operations, disrupting services, and breaching their employment contracts.
“These gross misconducts rendered PioTrans, a key transport provider in Johannesburg, non-operational, thereby harming the public who relied on its consistent and reliable services, justifying the dismissal,” the company told the Labour Court.
PioTrans also maintained that since it was placed under business rescue in 2023, the drivers’ reinstatement is impractical and it would lead to the company’s final liquidation.
The drivers want to be reinstated and paid backpay, alternatively compensation.
Three weeks ago, the Labour Court postponed Samwu’s review application sine die (indefinitely) and ordered the union to institute the necessary proceedings for substitution by the executor or executrix of the deceased drivers’ estates.
Samwu was also ordered to confirm within 30 days by way of an affidavit deposed by each of the dismissed employees, executor, or executrix stating who among the 157 drivers the union still has the necessary authority to act on their behalf in the proceedings.