Johannesburg Roads Agency’s (JRA)staff embarked in a protest barricading roads along Pixley Ka-Seme Street in the Johannesburg CBD putting traffic in a standstill on 5 April.
It is apparent that workers are demanding their historical pay progression which was promised to them by the City of Johannesburg’s roads agency.
Agency’s corporate services’ Head of Department, Siyabonga Nodu, told North Eastern Tribune that currently, the agency has no money to meet workers’ demands.
Even though they engaged workers’ representatives through the South African Municipal Workers Union (SAMWU), Nodu said they still couldn’t meet their demands.
He said they had suggested that they both go to the arbitration and find a lasting solution but claim the union didn’t want to.
“We had negotiations with the union’s representatives and JRA indicated that the money couldn’t be found in the budget to pay this historic pay progression and that’s when the negotiations deadlocked,” said Nodu.
“We then took the matter to the MD [managing director] but then the negotiations collapsed. On Wednesday [3 March] we sent a letter to the representatives suggesting we go to the arbitration, or the CCMA [Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration] or the Local Government Council but they refused.”
Nodu said on 5 March, workers then decided to embark on a protest outside the agency’s building and barricaded roads with trucks and burning tyres.
He said they tried to engage the representatives, but were told that workers want to be addressed ‘in total’ adding that that would be difficult considering the atmosphere.
“We won’t be able to do that because already the situation is volatile and we worry about our safety and that of our staff.
“We do want to respond but there are structures that can be used which is communicating through their representatives,” said Nodu.
Efforts to get a comment from SAMWU’s spokesperson Papiki Mohale were unsuccessful as the leaders were reported to be in Bloemfontein in a meeting and his phone was off.
Meanwhile, Joburg Metro police spokesperson, Superintendent Wayne Minnaar said roads which were affected included Pixley Ka-Seeme, Lilian Ngoyi, Prichard and Ntemi Piliso.
He said, “We advise motorists to avoid the mentioned roads and find alternatives routes.”
Details: SAMWU 011 100 2621.
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Related article:
https://northeasterntribune.co.za/229080/police-union-warns-of-potential-strike/
