After a week of picketing outside municipal offices in Ermelo, employees of Msukaligwa Local Municipality and members of the South African Municipal Workers Union (Samwu) embarked on a protected strike after obtaining a Court certificate of permission.
On their way to the municipal offices, the employees left trails of litter in the town’s main streets.
The employees maintain they can no longer put their lives in danger driving municipal vehicles that are not roadworthy and climbing electrical poles with high voltages without proper protective gear as they also have families to think of.
At the heart of the disgruntlement are long standing issues regarding the municipal task grade, which determines on which level a municipality is graded, as the level of grading has direct financial implications for everyone and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), among others.
Last year, the municipality issued a tender notice for the procurement of the PPE that to date has yet to be distributed to the employees.
In December last year the municipality terminated the contract of employment of 200 employees who, for the same reasons as the present strike, unlawfully and intentionally behaved in an unbecoming manner and for failing to assume duties when instructed to do so.
These employees were re-employed after internal disciplinary measures.
The employees are also questioning when the municipality will be buying the R20 million fleet that was approved by Council last December.
“We were promised new uniforms and vehicles that would allow us do our jobs as best we can, but to this day we are still waiting. All we see is the municipality giving priority to a fence rather than meeting our safety demands,”said one angry employee.
The Highvelder was also reliably informed of a meeting between municipal management and Samwu last Thursday where it was agreed that the union would not go ahead with the intended strike pending a meeting that was to be held on Monday with the general membership by the leadership of Samwu.
On Tuesday morning, after the meeting where parties could not come to an agreement, Municipal Manager Mr Zwelihle Shongwe handed out letters to union representatives, drawing their attention to the breach of agreement and pointing out critical points for consideration.
The letter reminded the union that they should have given the employer 48 hours’ notice before embarking on a strike after an agreement at the meeting. The employer will apply the principle of “no work, no pay” to employees who did not provide any service to council as per section 67 (3) of the Labour Relations Act. The employer also gave directions on the picketing area on the far end of the parking area closer to the clinic and said any breach would be considered to be contravention.
Union members were also advised not to intimidate employees and customers, and staff employed within the essential services functions were required to return to work immediately.
At the time of going to print, the Highvelder had not been able to obtain a comment from the union representatives regarding the Municipal Manager’s letter and on the new developments, as they were still in a meeting.
