Cape Town - At least one transport union is objecting to a clause in the Transnet Pension Fund Amendment Bill that is before parliament.
George Strauss, a spokesperson for the United Transport and Allied Trade Union, told the public enterprises committee on Friday that although the bill had been negotiated with the unions, one question remained outstanding.
The bill prevents new employees of former Transnet companies that have been hived off but are still state owned - such as SAA and Metrorail - from joining the Transnet retirement fund, even though the bill allows those who were already in the scheme to stay on.
"Why not," Strauss wanted to know. "Is there a hidden agenda here?"
Strauss noted that pensions experts at Nedlac, the negotiating forum for the government, business and labour, wanted to move towards combining funds on an industrywide basis.
New SAA or Metrorail employees will have to set up new funds, which will be expensive and for which their trustees may not have enough expertise.
Chris Wells, Transnet's chief financial officer, said the so-called hidden agenda was that the state utility wanted to behave like any normal commercial company: only people employed by the company could join its pension scheme.
The Transnet Pension Fund, established by an act of parliament in 1990, brought all race groups into the same fund for the first time. It was a defined benefit fund and all Transnet staff were required to join.
The law was amended 10 years later allowing the Transnet Retirement Fund, a defined contribution fund, to be established. Transnet employees had the choice to transfer to the new fund and the former fund was closed to new members.
The utility's restructuring involves selling non-core assets. Employees in the entities being hived off would not normally be allowed to remain members of Transnet's pension schemes, but the new legislation allows them to do so.
The defined benefit fund will be renamed the Transport Pension Fund, while the newer fund will remain as a Transnet fund. Existing employees of unbundled firms can remain members, and people joining Transnet can join the defined contribution fund, but not new staff of the hived-off entities.
The SA Transport and Allied Workers' Union, which represents the majority of Transnet workers, could not be reached for comment.