Salga ‘not negotiating in good faith’ – Samwu
JOBURG - The South African Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) voiced their disappointment over the negotiations with South African Local Government Bargaining Council (SALGBC) as Samwu accused Salga for ‘not negotiating in good faith and continues with an arrogant posture’.
The union is currently in the first round of negotiations with the Salga, the employer body that represents the country’s 278 municipalities in the South African Local Government Bargaining SALGBC. Samwu spokesperson, Papikie Mohale, said Salga responded to the demands that were put forward by unions for bargaining.
Mohale said, “We are disappointed that Salga is not negotiating in good faith and continues with the arrogant posture which it we have known it to portray. Salga does not want to concede to the demands by pleading poverty. The employer further had the audacity to say that there are some workers who stay in the rural areas who should not get housing allowance because they are comfortable living in areas where there is no basic services such as electricity, water and sanitation.”
He said the union viewed that as a spit in the faces of municipal workers who dedicate their lives to servicing the people while they do not have the luxury of such services in their own homes.
Mohale also said the employer body insisted on a three-year agreement which consists of a 4.4 percent salary increase for the financial year 2015/16 average consumer price index (CPI) plus 0.25 percent for the following two years.
“We are shocked that Salga would even proposed such a ridiculous proposal for year 2015/16 of 4.4percent which is way below inflation. The National Treasury has forecasted inflation to reach 6.2 pecent this year. The employer’s proposal means that the employer is proposing a negative salary increase of -1.8 percent,” Mohale said.
The union opposed the use of CPI as a base for negotiations as to what increases workers should get. Mohale said they believed that CPI was not an economic variable, it fails to take into account the quality of the good and further believed that CPI does not measure real increases and that it is merely a measure of spending trends. He said, “Samwu remains committed to ensuring that Salga concedes to the demands. We believe we are carrying a concrete mandate from our members.”
