RNM workers continue protest for backpay
Deputy mayor Sibusiso Shange told the workers that they would receive their money soon.
Ray Nkonyeni Municipality (RNM) workers continued protests on Monday morning last week.
Workers started protesting over a week before this, demanding six months of backpay, and to be graded from level 4 to level 5.
The amalgamation of Hibiscus Coast Municipality and Ezinqoleni Municipality in 2016 raised the status of the municipality (RNM) from grade 4 to grade 5. The grading process was finalised in 2019.
The grading of the municipality’s HODs started in 2021 when they were moved from grade 4 to 5, and in 2023, the councillors were also moved to grade 5.
The chairman of the South African Municipal Workers Union in RNM, Hakeem Sibisi, said the protest resumed because, in spite of a meeting a week before with the leadership of RNM and the municipal manager Khetha Zulu, they received a message saying that the municipality will not be paying them until Zulu reviewed the decision taken by the South African Local Government Association (SALGA).
In September, SALGA made a decision that backpay of six months and moving employees to grade 5 would be fair.
Last Wednesday, the MEC of Cogta, Rev Thulasizwe Buthelezi, met with SALGA, unions and RNM representatives to hold further discussions on the issue.
It is believed that after SALGA’s and Cogta’s input, they were asked to leave, and RNM and the unions continued talks.
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