BusinessLive reports that the Tshwane metro, which rejected attempts last month by the Gauteng government to mediate in a protracted and unlawful strike by SA Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) members, has joined efforts to resolve the impasse.
According to Cameron Morajane, director of the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA), they have been “engaging with the parties in a S[ection] 150 public interest intervention. The process is still ongoing. Parties have been in full co-operation with the CCMA”. Morajane said the intervention would continue for “as long as parties are prepared to engage”. Samwu Gauteng provincial secretary Mpho Tladinyane commented: “We will wait for the outcome of the CCMA process and take it from there.” Samwu members downed tools on 26 July, demanding that the metro implement a 5.4% wage increase, being the last leg of a three-year wage agreement signed at the SA Local Government Bargaining Council (SALGBC) in 2021. The city, which had refused to negotiate with the union, claims it doesn’t have the R600m required for the agreement. It unsuccessfully applied to the SALGBC for an exemption. The illegal strike has seen municipal property such as garbage trucks and other infrastructure vandalised and destroyed. In some cases non-striking employees had been threatened and prevented from reporting to work and/or carrying out their duties, the city said. More than 120 striking workers have been fired.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Luyolo Mkentane at BusinessLive
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