Moneyweb reports that Tshwane Mayor Cilliers Brink from the Democratic Alliance (DA) has taken a hardline stance towards the wage strike in the capital city over wage increases.

The unprotected strike follows the refusal of the employer, led by a coalition of the DA, ActionSA, VF+, IFP and the ACDP, to pay a 5.4% salary increase agreed at the local government bargaining council. Brink insists there is no money in Tshwane’s empty pockets for the increase and refuses to negotiate with the unions. He has characterised the events as criminality, rather than labour action. His coalition partners are however increasingly questioning his position. This raises the question of who will budge first – the striking workers who are left out of pocket or the mayor who may be losing support from nervous coalition partners and fed-up residents. Last week ActionSA said it would lodge a dispute within the coalition if necessary as it wanted the mayor to seek a compromise with the unions. But Brink’s supporters point out that municipal unions Samwu and Imatu deny their participation in the strike, and say there is no point in negotiating with them if they have no part in it. A meeting of the coalition partners at local level “did not find agreement”, according to ActionSA. A decision was taken to refer the matter to the national coalition oversight group, which consists of all the party leaders. A date has not yet been set for them to discuss it. But, the party said in a statement on Tuesday it had met with Samwu to help end the strike. “It is not good enough for Brink and the DA to force residents to live without refuse removal or other basic services in order to avoid the rational need to sit down and engage the unions in order to achieve the compromise that gets service delivery back again,” ActionSA pointed out.

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