City to take extreme measures over unlawful strike
It was stipulated by the eThekwini Municipality spokesperson that workers who participate in unlawful and unauthorised protest action will be held by the 'no work, no pay and no benefits' principle.
TODAY, the eThekwini Municipality held an urgent media briefing at the Durban ICC in response to the ongoing strike by municipal workers.
The strike, which erupted on Tuesday (February 27), has resulted in essential municipal services being severely impacted as some employees are fearing for their lives after seeing their colleagues being attacked and infrastructure being vandalised.
The strike is being spearheaded by eThekwini Municipality workers affiliated with the South African Municipal Workers Union (SAMWU).
The municipality says the strike action came at a time when the City was making progress in repairing the infrastructure that was damaged by the consecutive severe disasters over the past five years, including the Covid-19 Pandemic, the July 2021 Civil Unrest and the 2022 and 2023 floods.
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“Since last week, the intimidation and continued attacks on non-striking employees have resulted in the City not being able to respond to faults and restore basic services such as water, refuse collection and electricity in the entire city,” said eThekwini mayor Mxolisi Kaunda.
What’s more, according to the mayor, one of their workers was shot and injured by striking employees. “We have observed with great concern the attacks of the City employees at service delivery sites. Some have been shot while attending to service delivery complaints. Water and sanitation and electricity infrastructure, including vehicles, have been damaged or destroyed. We want to assure the residents of eThekwini that consequence management will be applied to all workers who participated in the illegal and unprotected industrial action.
According to the workers, their wages do not match those of workers in other big municipalities in metropolitans such as eKurhuleni and Tshwane.
Regional secretary of SAMWU Xolani Dube says that the union’s analysis of wages in comparison to that of other metros showed that eThekwini municipal workers earn far less. In response to what the municipality has called an unlawful strike, the 500 striking employees have been served with a court interdict for loitering behaviour.
Also read: uShaka workers set to down tools over wage dispute
“The ‘no work, no pay and no benefits’ principle will apply to employees who participate in unlawful and unauthorised protest action,” said eThekwini Municipality spokesperson Gugu Sisilana.
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