Pensioners’ R79.5 billion claim against Transnet makes headway
- Published on 12 Mar 2015
- HR Pulse News Desk
Laurence Liebbrandt, spokesman for the Transnet Pensioners Action Group (TPAG), says that Transnet has accepted that it has lost the case to prevent a class action application being brought against it by the Group.
But he adds that 350 of the approximately 63,000 Transnet pensioners die on average each month and they will not benefit if the claim by the Group is successful. The TPAG, which has about 4,000 Transnet pensioners as members, is claiming R79.5 billion from Transnet and its pension funds, which afforded pensioners just 2% pension increases annually. Many of the pensioners are destitute and rely on the mercy of family members. According to Liebbrandt, the lawyers representing the pensioners can now go ahead and issue summonses.
He questioned why Transnet wasted so much time and money in opposing the bringing of the class action if it didn’t have a case. The next step is to allow time for individual pensioners the opportunity to withdraw from the case should they wish to do so because Transnet could technically charge any of them in the unlikely event that the logistics firm wins the case. About a possible extra bonus for pensioners in April, Liebbrandt indicated that it is just a proposal by Transnet and has not yet been approved by it.
