Prasa Saves Hundreds of Jobs After Minister’s Intervention

A task team in South Africa successfully reduced potential job losses at the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa) from over 600 to approximately 227 employees. The South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (Satawu) and the United National Transport Union (Untu) initially protested Prasa’s plans to retrench workers due to financial and operational challenges in its long-distance passenger rail services.

Transport minister Barbara Creecy intervened, establishing a task team with Prasa and union representatives. This team has been working to find alternatives to retrenchments and has already made considerable progress. Prasa cited inactive rail corridors and unproductive work as reasons for considering the cuts, despite a recent R5.8 billion government allocation intended to modernize the rail operator and increase passenger trips.

The unions are cautiously optimistic and continue to engage with Prasa to find solutions for the remaining 227 potentially affected employees. Prasa has spent R3.48 billion of a R7.5 billion overhaul program to address aging infrastructure and improve service reliability.