Samwu spokesperson Papikie Mohale said the dispute came after three rounds of negotiations which were a “fruitless exercise, a waste of our time and workers’ money”.
Mohale said, “Salga has not shown any commitment to having these negotiations completed before the current agreement lapses. Samwu has been dragged to meetings with Salga under the auspice of negotiations while they [Salga] knew very well that it was a disguise to take the army of tourists on holiday at a great cost.”
The union said the Salga delegates were not there to negotiate and were led by the ‘supposed’ chief negotiator, Rio Nolutshungu. Mohale said Nolutshungu had turned himself into a tour guide for the other delegates. He said no contact had previously been made with organised labour and he only arrived in the last hour of negotiations to say that they are willing to improve their offer by 0.4 percent, which Mohale said was ridiculous.
Earlier this year, the union submitted its demands to the South African Local Government Bargaining Council (SALGBC) which included an increase of 15 percent or R4 000 for all employees. Samwu also wanted all benefits, allowances and conditions of service to increase by the same rate as the across the board percentage increases and a flat rate housing allowance of R1 800 for all employees.
Meanwhile, Salga had earlier indicated that workers would only get an increment linked to their performance. On the other hand, Salga’s offer for the first year (2015/2016) is 4. 4 percent, which is inflation linked. For the second and third years, Salga offered an inflation-related increase plus an additional 0.25 percent.
However, Mohale said Salga continued to undermine negotiation processes by bringing in junior officials as negotiators, some of whom are municipal workers themselves which, he alleged, stand to get bonuses for ensuring municipal workers get as low an increase as possible.
“They should be ashamed of themselves that they are selling out other municipal workers for the promise of bonuses and free holidays extended to them at the expense of the country’s municipal workers,” Mohale said.
The matter has been referred for conciliation at the bargaining council. Any further negotiations with Salga will be in the context of a dispute resolution.
Should both parties fail to reach a mutually-beneficial solution, the union will then get a certificate of non-resolution which will lead to a protected full-blown nationwide strike.
Mohale said, “This decision was not taken lightly, it was a painful one, bearing in mind the consequences of strike action on our members and most importantly South Africans. [It would result in] no provision of basic services such as electricity, water, sanitation, waste management and collection, grave digging and traffic control.”
