Workers’ backpay challenges persist
SAMWU's regional secretary Ntombifuthi Mzotho said that each worker is expected to sign the agreement which is against the laws of the union.
Khetha Zulu, the municipal manager of Ray Nkonyeni Municipality, was back in court on Wednesday last week for a review of the South African Local Government Bargaining Council’s (SALGBC) decision on workers’ backpay and grading.
Initially, SALGBC had ordered the municipality to backpay workers for six months and upgrade them to grade 5 after the amalgamation of Izinqoleni and Hibiscus Coast Municipalities.
However, RNM took the matter to court for a review of the decision.
Workers then went on a protest for over three months, which stalled municipal services.
After negotiations, the South African Municipal Workers Union (Samwu) and RNM reached an out of court agreement to pay workers four months backpay and upgrade them to grade 5.
An agreement was signed by both parties on January 31, and workers were expected to receive their first instalment on February 25, with their salaries.
According to Samwu’s regional secretary, Ntombifuthi Mzotho, finer details needed to be ironed out, and meetings have been held to sort out these issues.
But, these issues have not been resolved and have resulted in workers protesting again.
Mzotho said that each worker is expected to sign the agreement, which is against the laws of the union.
“We, as Samwu, sign on behalf of the workers. Workers don’t sign individually, and if we allow them to do that, it would mean we are taking away our right to represent the workers as a union.”
The union and workers believe that Zulu is delaying the process intentionally in the hope that the court rules against the order and their agreement. As a result, they won’t receive the backpay soon because the case will drag on.
However, Zulu said Samwu responded with amendments to the agreement, but they (RNM) explained as to why they cannot agree to the union signing on behalf of the workers.
“If we allow the union to sign on behalf of the workers, it can always come back and bite us. For example, a worker can come back and say I did not mandate the union to sign on my behalf and then claim for the previous months, and we cannot afford that.”
He added that the municipality has received advice from lawyers not to allow the union to sign on behalf of workers.
Zulu said because of the signing issue, the municipality cannot withdraw the court review as yet.
The matter has been adjourned to March 19.
When asked if there will be action taken by the municipality against the workers after the three months of ‘no work, no pay’ system, Zulu said: “Unless a worker can produce evidence that he or she worked during the protest, then we will take no action, but if they cannot prove it, then we will do something about it.”
Workers gathered at the Port Shepstone Civic Centre on Wednesday.
Some services have been disrupted.
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