Taxis in Adderley Street, Cape Town. Image: Storm Simpson/The South African.
SAFTU demands UIF, benefits and government subsidies for taxi industry
SAFTU, along with the Qina National Public Transport Workers Association, is advocating for the acknowledgement of taxi workers as formal employees.
Taxis in Adderley Street, Cape Town. Image: Storm Simpson/The South African.
South Africa’s second-largest trade union federation, the South African Federation of Trade Unions (SAFTU), is demanding that the Department of Labour formally recognises workers in the taxi industry.
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SAFTU calls for legal recognition of taxi industry workers as employees
SAFTU and the Qina National Public Transport Workers Association wrote to the Employment and Labour Minister, Thulas Nxesi, to demand that the government formally recognises taxi drivers, rank marshals, and administrative and other staff as employees whom taxi owners or associations employ.
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“It is indisputable that taxi drivers, administrative staff, marshals, and other staff members in the taxi industry are employees, contracted by taxi owners and taxi associations, who assume the role of the employers,” said SAFTU General Secretary Zwelinzima Vavi in a statement.
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Demands
SAFTU and Qina Mshayeli are asking the Minister and Director General of the Department of to take urgent action to ensure several steps are taken, including:
- Ensuring that all taxi owners and taxi associations are registered as employers.
- Ensuring all owners and associations submit a list of employees and their addresses as is required by law.
- Ensure that taxi employees receive all applicable statutory deductions, including UIF, skills levies and other benefits.
The parties also want the government to subsidise taxi operators in the same way it does bus companies.
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