(Reported in MooiVaal Media 8 November 2017)
SASOLBURG. – The Metsimaholo Municipality last week re-employed former municipal workers who were dismissed in 2014 for taking part in a strike action.
A spokesperson for the South African Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) last week said the union is pleased that negotiations between the union and the management of Metsimaholo Local Municipality have yielded good results for its members.
More than 180 Samwu members were dismissed by the municipality for participating in a strike action in September 2014. Some of the 180 employees were later reinstated but 32 employees were not.
The remaining 32 dismissed employees reported for duty on November 1, following the ground breaking settlement which was reached with the municipal management.
According to the settlement agreement, all employees are re-employed by the municipality on the level which the employees was employed at prior to their dismissal.
“Although we would have loved for the members to be reinstated instead of re-employed, we believe that this settlement agreement is a win-win for all parties given the fact that this matter had taken over three years to be resolved.
“I am happy that I will be reporting to duty this week. Service delivery in this community had been heavily compromised as a result of our dismissal.
“I want to ensure that I work with others to bring back the pride that we all had with this area. Above all I am very happy that I will again be putting food on the table for my wife and children,” said an employee who could not withhold his excitement on hearing the news of his re-employment.
Samwu thanked all parties involved in ensuring the conclusion of these discussions.
“We thank our members for the confidence and patience they had in the union to ensure the conclusion of these discussions,” the spokesperson said.
