Workers are on the job

It's business as usual for a large number of municipal workers, who seemingly have not heeded the call to strike issued by the South African Municipal Workers Union.
PRELIMINARY reports from the City are that a large number of municipal workers have pitched for work on the second day of a strike over deadlocked wage negotiations between the South African Municipal Workers Union (Samwu) and the South African Local Government Association (Salga).

Essential City services are operating normally Essential municipal services are operating normallyJoburg council spokesperson Nthatisi Modingoane said the morning of 16 August was business as usual in the City. “From the informal reports that I got, people are working. We await recent developments and information from departments,” he said.

The SABC reported today that 85 percent of union members in Gauteng had boycotted the strike because of alleged corruption within the union’s provincial leadership.

More than 150 000 municipal workers affiliated to Samwu were expected to join the nationwide strike, which could cripple municipal service delivery.

The union has demanded an 18 percent pay rise or R2 000, whichever is greater. 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 (CPI) plus 2 percent. However, unions are arguing that negotiations should be re-opened because of constant inflation.

Salga said it stood by its offer of a 6 percent wage increase. The spokesperson for the employer body, Milisa Kentane, said the 18 percent proposed was “just not an option”. “Our municipalities will be unable to carry that,” she said.

In a statement on its website homepage, Salga said on average the salary increase for the sector was 9 percent a year for the duration of the multi-year agreement. The collective agreement provided for parties to reopen negotiations in the event that the CPI was either below 5 percent or above 10 percent.

Municipal workers affiliated to Samwu are on strikeMunicipal workers affiliated to Samwu are on strike“In this instance, the parties agree that the CPI stands at 4,08 percent. Based on this, the unions requested that negotiations be reopened and subsequently tabled an unreasonable demand of 18 percent. The dispute remains unresolved and the conciliator has proposed a 7,5 percent increase for the sector.”

Unions and Salga have rejected this proposal.

Salga said raising wages 18 percent would adversely affect the budgets of member municipalities. “This means that the rates and taxes of municipalities will have to increase by 18 percent as well.”

Should the strike proceed, Salga said its member municipalities would invoke a “no work no pay” principle.

Yesterday, the first day of the strike, Modingoane reported that no essential municipal services had been disrupted, including at Pikitup, Joburg Water, Metrobus, City Power, revenue and customer services. Should the strike intensify, he said the City had made alternative arrangements to stop disruptions of services.