Strikers list their demands

Protesting Joburg workers had their numbers boosted by union members from other municipalities in a march to deliver their demands to the mayor.
A MEMORANDUM of demands from striking municipal employees was accepted by Executive Mayor Parks Tau on behalf of the South African Local Government Association (Salga), the employer.

Executive mayor Parks TauExecutive mayor Parks Tau addresses striking Samwu membersHe met the workers outside the Salga offices in Braamfontein today, telling them that the doors of the association remained open for continued discussions and engagements.

After receiving and signing the memorandum, he told the protesters that the association would discuss the demands that the workers, through the South African Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) had put forward. “We will this afternoon follow due processes of discussing these demands.”

Though Samwu had predicted that 60 percent of its members would come out full force to support the show stopping protest, only a few hundred people attended the march, and most of the picketers had to be brought in from other Gauteng cities as many City of Joburg workers continued to boycott the strike.

Workers from the city of Tshwane were the first ones to arrive at Pieter Roos Park in Parktown; members from Mogale City and Ekhurhuleni dropped in as the day progressed.

Essential services
According to the City’s spokesperson, Nthatisi Modingoane, workers have been coming to work despite the strike that started on Monday. He explained that none of the City’s essential services were affected by the strike.

The workers are demanding an 18 percent pay rise, or R2 000. However, Salga is offering 6,08 percent under a multi-year salary agreement it reached with the unions in 2009.

In that deal, workers got a 13 percent increase in that year, an 8,48 percent rise in 2010 and should get a 6,08 percent hike in the current fiscal year. This was in line with the consumer price index plus 2 percent.

Samwu provincial secretary Ntsikelelo KlaasLooking for double digit increment: Samwu's Ntsikelelo KlaasOn its website, Salga stated that raising salaries by 18 percent was not only unreasonable, but it would negatively affect the budgets of member municipalities.

“If this demand is to be met, the impact thereof will have to be passed on to local communities. This means that the rates and taxes of municipalities will have to increase by 18 percent as well,” it said. “This will force municipalities to implement an unreasonable high wage increase which will lead to a negative reduction in services.”

The union also wants essential and emergency services such as clinics, traffic police, disaster management and fire fighters to remain under the custody of municipalities and not be moved to the provincial governments.

It also wants local governments to cut out the middleman in the form of agencies and to stop outsourcing essential services. The union gave Salga until Monday, 22 August to respond to its demands.

Samwu’s Gauteng provincial secretary, Ntsikelelo Klaas, said 18 percent was just a starting point for the union, however. It was not looking at settling for anything less than a double-digit increment.

He harshly condemned the trashing of cities and vandalising public property during the strike.