Tshwane workers’ monthly pay to be docked in new power play

Anyone taking part in the six-week-long municipal strike could see their salaries reduced.

This was according to Tshwane metro spokesperson, Selby Bokaba.

The Capital City and its staff have been in grave tension for more than a month during which city vehicles have been stoned or hijacked while workers have been shot at or intimidated to halt their service delivery duties.

This has resulted in Tshwane mayor Cilliers Brink and his MMCs doing the work themselves.

Mamelodi councillors dirty their hands unblocking sewers
Local councillors and community volunteers donned their work suits and got their hands dirty by unblocking sewers around Mamelodi and Nellmapius. Read more: https://t.co/aHpnMiv2yr pic.twitter.com/fci642A1sn

— Pretoria Rekord (@RekordNewspaper) August 25, 2023

[WATCH] Another day of waste collection. Yesterday I was in Mamelodi, today we are in Centurion together with MMC Peter Sutton to support our teams as we implement our waste collection catch-up plan. @CityTshwane pic.twitter.com/MTIHvQzdkY

— Mayor Cilliers Brink (@tshwane_mayor) August 24, 2023

Akasia Licensing Centre in Region 1 is gradually allowing walk-ins to assist clients following the temporary closure of services due to the ongoing illegal strike. TMPD has been deployed to the centre. @CityTshwane pic.twitter.com/iF1GB7OzUd

— Mayor Cilliers Brink (@tshwane_mayor) August 24, 2023

The protest action that has not shown any sign of ending followed the Labour Court in Johannesburg granting Tshwane an interim interdict against the strike and declaring it to be unlawful and unprotected on July 28.

Staffers affiliated mostly to the South African municipal workers’ union (Samwu) have been on strike over delayed annual salary increases allegedly overdue since 2021.

They demand the implementation of their 3.5% and 5.4% salary increases for the years 2021 and 2023.

Last Wednesday, the South African local government bargaining council (SALGBC) convened a meeting to arbitrate between the unions and Tshwane.

Tshwane had applied to SALGBC for an exemption from certain provisions of the salary and wage collective agreement entered into with the unions in 2021.

Senior panellist Eleanor Hambidge presided over the exemption application, assisted by independent financial expert Krish Kumar.

The application is however opposed by both independent municipal & allied trade unions (Imatu) and Samwu and the case was postponed to August 30 for argument.

Tshwane spokesperson Selby Bokaba said in the interim would start docking the pay of striking workers as water leaks, burst pipes, waste collection and electricity outages were not being attended to despite employees reporting for duty.

“After observing this disturbing pattern, the leadership resolved to broaden the task of analysing the attendance registers across all Tshwane to identify the employees who are physically at work but don’t do the work for which they get paid.

“This task will culminate in the salaries of the affected employees being docked on a pro-rata basis.”

He said Tshwane was financially in distress as a consequence of employees being at work, but not executing their duties, and this weighed on the coffers as the extra cost for paying contractors, in addition to employee salaries was excessive.

He said that paying contractors and staffers would constitute fruitless and wasteful expenditure.

Bokaba said Tshwane had dismissed 122 employees for participating in the unprotected strike.

“The city will continue to implement the no work, no pay principle.”

Imatu Tshwane manager Lynette Burns-Coetzee said strike tension would soar to new heights.

Burns-Coetzee said Tshwane had failed to pay salaries to several non-striking employees on Friday.

“Imatu demanded to know why Tshwane had no contingency plan in place to assist non-striking union members who were unable to enter the workplace due to physical restrictions and intimidation by striking colleagues.”

She said Tshwane had also failed to engage with unions on the non-payment of salaries.

“Imatu is scheduling an urgent meeting with the city manager to address the unlawful withholding of salaries.

“The union is also questioning the city’s recent move to examine attendance records and work performance of non-striking employees amid protest action.

“The strike has entered its sixth week and we do not accept the claims of insufficient funds to pay salary increases to workers.”

Samwu Gauteng secretary Mpho Tladinyane said Samwu was dismayed by the attitude of the Tshwane coalition towards the residents and workers.

“Councillors from the coalition that includes DA, ActionSA, FF+, IFP and ACDP boycotted Thursday’s special council meeting that was called by Speaker Mncedi Ndzwanana, where the sole agenda was for the council to discuss the current state of affairs of Tshwane.”

He said as a union, they had been clear that their members were not on strike and that everyone should be at their workstation and serve the residents of Tshwane. However, “it’s very concerning that the same employer doesn’t allow workers an opportunity to execute their duties”.

“Drivers can’t access buses to ferry residents, maintenance and technicians can’t use work vehicles to respond to outages, meter readers can’t do their work as they rely on city transportation which is locked in by the employer.

“As a result of these actions, many residents of Tshwane are likely to receive incorrect billing, reject to pay those inaccurate bills and worsen the financial state of the city.”

He said in some service delivery depots, workers were locked out and forced to sign attendance registers outside the gate inside their supervisors’ cars.

“In a nutshell, the employer doesn’t want to make the working environment conducive to employees. These are some of the instances which have resulted in residents not receiving the much-needed services from the city,” alleged Tladinyane.

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