Pretoria - The SA Municipal Workers Union (Samwu) has called out DA leader John Steenhuisen, accusing him of meddling in the City of Tshwane salary increment dispute.
The union has been at loggerheads with the DA-led metro over a 5.4% wage increase for municipal employees. The workers claim to have not received an increase for the past three years.
For seven weeks now the workers have downed tools owing to the salary dispute, while mayor Cilliers Brink is citing bankruptcy for not being able to pay salary increases, and has applied to the SA Local Bargaining Council for an exemption. However, the City’s bid to be exempted from paying increases to workers was recently dismissed.
Addressing a press conference yesterday, Samwu general secretary Dumisane Magagula dismissed the DA’s assertions that the metro did not have any money. He blamed Steenhuisen for Brink’s decision to “make excuses” not to pay salary increases.
“We are well aware that the decision not to pay workers their salary increases is a political decision which came from the upper structures of the DA. While addressing the Gauteng provincial congress last month, Steenhuisen made remarks to the effect that ‘if you are unable to tell Samwu that there is no money for salary increases, you will have nothing to inherit’.
“These remarks are problematic in two ways, The DA’s national leadership has overstepped its boundaries and is now found making administrative decisions. What is there that the DA wants to inherit? Why do workers have to be sacrificed for people to get their inheritance?” said Magagula.
He said that in early August when the City applied for an exemption they wanted the bargaining council to ratify its decision to exempt itself from paying workers their salary increases for the second time in three years. He added that the commissioner found that the City, which had been claiming financial challenges as the reason for not implementing the collective agreement, actually does have the money.
“In the last financial year, the City has budgeted over R12 billion for salary costs. However, the City had a surplus of over R1bn. The total amount needed to fund this leg of the collective agreement is only R601 million.
“This is some evidence that disproves a lack of resources as an excuse to not pay workers their increases,” Magagula said.
The municipality has since announced that it would be applying to the Labour Court for a review of the bargaining council’s decision.
Responding to that, Magagula said: “Instead of implementing the collective agreement as directed by the bargaining council, the City of Tshwane decided to take the ruling of the bargaining council on review at the Labour Court. Since 2021, the matter has never been aired at the Labour Court as a result of the dirty tricks that have been employed by the City to delay paying workers what is rightfully and contractually theirs.
“We are of the view that the City is using the long and tedious court processes to frustrate workers with the hope that they will give up on the demand for their 2021 salary and wage increase,” he said.
Magagula vowed that the union was not going to abandon the process, saying their legal team was already working on filing their heads of arguments.
Responding to the decision by the bargaining council, the DA’s caucus spokesperson Kwena Moloto said residents would have to bare the brunt of that decision.
“At the heart of this issue lies the problem that residents will inevitably be required to pay more, for less of the services they require. An increase in salaries would result in an exercise that has to supplement an already burdened budget, using ratepayers’ money.
“This judgment is deeply flawed and based on a theoretical budget surplus rather than a thorough examination of the City's actual cash flow. The DA caucus therefore fully supports the decision of executive mayor Brink to initiate a review of this judgment,” Moloto said.
Pretoria News