The workers said they received 50 percent of their salaries in June last year and are owed allowances backdating to 2009. The Railway Association of Enginemen President, Norman Simba, confirmed that the majority of the train drivers’ children are not going to school because their parents cannot pay school fees.
Since 2009, the workers have been engaged in many confrontations with the parastatal’s management. In March, they went on strike. Simba said management was not concerned with addressing the plight of the workers and efforts to engage them had been futile.
“They are not even adhering to the labour court judgement which ruled in our favour indicating that they should come up with a payment plan to settle our salaries,” he said.
He accused management of victimising those in the workers’ union, threatening them with expulsion.
NRZ Public Relations Manager Fanuel Masikati refuted the saying, “It is not 10 months because we have paid them their July, 2012 salaries and we only owe them salaries for August onwards,” he said. “We are going to pay them anytime soon. However, we acknowledge that we have been failing to pay them salaries mainly because our operational environment has not been conducive for good business,” he added.
Post published in: News