‘Frustrated’ municipal union workers ready to put residents first, but still demand agreed-upon increases
“We cannot afford to have instability as experienced in the past two years.”
A municipal employees union called on the upcoming Tshwane council to “fix” the metro by bringing stability and service delivery to Tshwane residents.
The South African Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) called on the metro to further prioritise the appointment of a City Manager and the Chief of Emergency Services.
“We appeal to all 15 political parties that they must look beyond party positions and consider the residents of Tshwane first,” said Samwu Tshwane regional secretary Mpho Tladinyane.
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He said the appeal ensued as a result of the outcome of the 2021 local elections.
“Like in 2016, no political party got more than 50% and therefore the City of Tshwane will be run by a coalition government.”
Tladinyane said from Samwu’s experience, during the previous coalition instability was brought in the administration with collapsing council meetings, the metro being placed under administration, while mayors were often changed and political parties communicating with mixed messages.
“We cannot afford to have instability as experienced in the past two years, this has resulted in a lapse in service delivery and the frustration of workers.”
He said city employees, affiliated with Samwu, were available to ensure that revenue collection was enhanced and communities were serviced optimally.
“More importantly for us, we want the new council to decide on implementing the recently signed salary and wage increases as agreed in the South African Local Government Bargaining Council (SALGBC).”
“Municipal workers are frustrated and losing patience with the employer as a result of the failure to pay their salary and wage increases and the benchmarking agreement.”
Tladiyane said positive action on the implementation, would create labour stability in the metro.
“Political parties should therefore put the interests of the residents and workers first.”
Samwu has since last week ended its strike until a new Tshwane administration is in place following the recent local government elections.
Last month, mayor Randall Williams applied for a successful court application for the union to halt its illegal strike and force municipal workers to go back to work, after service delivery in the city was affected for weeks.
The ending of strike action comes as a result of a three-year-long fight with the metro over a benchmarking agreement and a once-off payment linked to the agreement.
This agreement was reached between the two parties at the bargaining council to adjust salaries of workers in line with a category 10 status acquired by the municipality in 2017.
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