Truck drivers to strike over hiring of foreign nationals and salaries

Members of the All Truck Drivers Forum and Allied South Africa (ATDF ASA) say they intend to begin a nationwide strike this week.

The organisation represents the interests of truck drivers. Drivers have for years raised concerns over the hiring of foreign nationals in the freight and logistics industry.

They are also unhappy around some employers who are not adhering to the minimum wage policy.

In the past, similar strikes have seen trucks blocking major routes and trucks being set on fire.

Nomandla Latha is with the ATDF ASA in KwaZulu-Natal, “We are here today to state and to voice out the complaints or the grievances of the drivers nationally regarding the way they are treated in their workplaces and wherever they go since they are using roads and trucks to deliver the goods.”

Latha says some truck drivers claim they are being denied compensation for overtime work.

“The challenges are faced by drivers. They are not happy the way they are getting paid after work. Some of them they are working overtime. They are not getting those overtime. Even bargaining council, they are not treating them the way they are supposed to.”