On 23 March, Pikitup spokesperson Jacky Mashapu was quoted on SABC news as saying, “As we speak, the strike is costing the city R1 million a day. And on top of this, we have had to hire additional labour and trucks to get the work done. Customers are complaining all the time and the rubbish is piling up.”
On 10 April, the entity released a statement that under the auspices of the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA), Samwu, Pikitup and the City of Johannesburg reached an agreement to end the unprotected strike. The statement revealed that employees would return to work immediately and there will be an end to all acts of intimidation, violence, victimisation and harassment.
On 11 April, Mashapu revealed that about 95 percent of Pikitup depot-based workers reported to their respective depots and commenced with normal scheduled services.
However, on 13 April he said the numbers were pretty much the same. When asked by this paper about the total cost of the strike, Mashapu said, “We are only two days in the new dispensation. [We are] still busy reconciling the numbers.”
In their settlement with the union, Pikitup will make a once-off payment of R750 to all Grade A and B workers and this will be taken into account in the negotiations which commenced on 11 April under the auspices of the CCMA.
Mashapu said that in the event that an agreement cannot be reached, the parties will consider referring the dispute to mutual interest arbitration or, alternatively, the parties will advise each other of the steps they will pursue in exercising their rights, taking into consideration the extent of the agreement.
The no-work-no-pay rule will apply, with 50 percent of the deduction being deferred and the remaining two tranches of 25 percent deducted in May and June. The immediate return to work will be taken into account in mitigation of sanctions in the disciplinary hearings.
The negotiations on a salary benchmark will be based on the principle of salary scale, a common grading system and salary progression based on tenure and job performance. It was further agreed that the parties will embark on a relationship-building exercise.
“Finally, it has been agreed to allow the parallel and ongoing deployment of contracted resources to ensure that the backlog of uncollected waste (domestic, illegally dumped, putrefied or otherwise) is recovered. The City has set up a Joint Operations Centre to ensure that the backlog of uncollected waste is cleared by 30 April, which Samwu will support,” Mashapu said.
