A disgruntled group of local truck drivers, who have been fighting the employment of foreigners in the R480bn road freight and logistics sector, is set to embark on a ‘national shutdown’ on 30 April in support of wide-ranging demands including higher wages, reports BusinessLIVE.

The strike could hurt the struggling economy and destabilise supply chains as billions of rands worth of goods are transported through critical corridors, which include the busy Johannesburg to Durban N3 route. 

Gavin Kelly, CEO of the Road Freight Association, which represents employers in the road and freight logistics sector, said truck operators were ‘tired’ of the protests in the sector as it was mostly compliant operators that bear the brunt.

Kelly said if the logistics supply chain was disrupted, ‘it’s billions of rands we lose in a day, and we don’t know what sort of violence would erupt’.

Kelly would not say what contingency measures would be implemented as that would ‘play into their hands’.

In a note circulated on social media, the little-known ‘SA truck drivers’ group called for the scrapping of labour brokers; a basic salary of R25 000 per month; that there be no cabin cameras; and no employment of foreigners in the industry, among other demands.

Truck drivers earn an estimated R17 000 a month, with wages and other conditions of employment negotiated by parties at the National Bargaining Council for the Road Freight & Logistics Industry.

The group said its demands and the strike are supported by the All Truck Drivers Forum and Allied SA (ATDF-ASA), which has been behind a number of protests in the sector. Truckers Association of SA president Mary Phadi said the ATDF-ASA was behind the planned national shutdown.

Full BusinessLIVE report