Samwu opposes DA city job cuts
The South African Municipal Workers Union has taken aim at the DA, which it claims is intentionally and unfairly cutting jobs at some of the big metro councils. Samwu said yesterday it would be demanding an end to what it believed was a DA offensive against workers in municipalities through retrenching workers without proper consultation.The party took over the Johannesburg, Tshwane and Nelson Mandela Bay metropolitans from the ANC after the August local elections.Last month the DA-run City of Cape Town issued section 189 notices to at least 311 middle and top managers, informing them about possible retrenchment."At the City of Cape Town there is a process to retrench black managers, and in Joburg and Tshwane people have been replaced without proper due process," said Samwu general secretary Simon Mathe."We take this as an attack on collective bargaining and the gains that workers have made in this regard. We will therefore be defending our constitutional right to collective bargaining which is currently under attack."According to a 2015 municipal census by Stats SA, municipalities had a staggering 41303 vacancies.City of Cape Town spokesman Priya Reddy said changes were common with the sitting of a new council."The city is undertaking a plan to improve service delivery, which the council adopted in August," said Reddy."Part of this means adapting the city structure to meet the requirements. Management staff have been advised that their jobs may be affected by this as part of a consultative process between the city government and the recognised unions. We do not yet know what the outcome of those processes will be."According to DA spokesman Phumzile van Damme, more than 915 positions in the Tshwane Municipality were under review."There is a process where there is an assessment," she said. "It's about making sure you have the right people in those positions that provide the right services to the city, and making sure that there's no money wasted and [there are] no unnecessary positions."Samwu is mobilising its members to join Cosatu on its national strike planned for Friday...
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