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City of Tshwane rebuffs Gauteng MEC’s mediation offer in Samwu strike

Details

tshwane thumb100 BL Premium reports that the City of Tshwane has rejected attempts by the Gauteng government to mediate in the unlawful industrial action by the SA Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) that has dragged on for nearly two months.

In a letter to Gauteng co-operative & traditional affairs MEC Mzi Khumalo dated 15 September, Tshwane executive mayor Cilliers Brink wrote: “In your letter you propose to act as an independent mediator between Samwu and the City of Tshwane to try to facilitate the resolution of the dispute. … While we welcome your offer of mediation, we do not regard it as an alternative to the decision to take the bargaining council decision on review. The City of Tshwane simply does not have money for salary increases, and no manner of mediation will change that fact in the present financial year.” Samwu members have been on an illegal and violent wage strike since 26 July, demanding that the metro implement a 5.4% wage increase – the last leg of a three-year wage agreement signed in the SA Local Government Bargaining Council (SALGBC) in 2021. In an arbitration award dated 10 September, SALGBC senior commissioner Eleanor Hambidge dismissed the municipality’s application for an exemption and directed it to comply with the wage deal with “immediate effect”. Meantime according to Samwu’s Mpho Tladinyane, the CCMA sent three commissioners to Tshwane last week to try to broker an agreement to end the industrial action. “We are hoping that through this CCMA intervention there would be a resolution to the current impasse,” Tladinyane said.

  • Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Luyolo Mkentane at BusinessLive (subscriber access only)


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