Municipal wage and salary negotiations drag on

The salary and wage negotiations of municipal workers continue after they deadlocked earlier this month.

The South African Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) and Independent Municipal and Allied Trade Union (Imatu) declared separate disputes at the South African Local Government Bargaining Council (SALGBC) where salary and wage negotiations are under way with the South African Local Government Association (Salga).

The current salary and wage agreement lapses on June 30.

The facilitator proposed the following:

• A 7% salary and wage increase starting from July 1 this year;
• Employees who earn a basic salary of R9‚000 per month or less receive a further 0.5% increase from January 1 2019; and
• Adjusting the minimum wage‚ the homeowner’s allowance‚ and the medical aid employer contribution by the percentage of salary increases for the three-year duration of the salary and wage agreement.

Salga spokesperson Sivuyile Mbambato said municipal employees will get no salary or wage increases next month if no agreement is reached before Saturday. Also‚ employees who get a non-pensionable housing allowance will not get it next month. They will meet again on July 16.

“We urge members of the public to exercise patience as we navigate this critical phase of the negotiation process which is intended to explore all possible avenues to reach an agreement.”

Samwu said on Facebook on Wednesday: “We are however not going to rush and be bullied by a tag-team of Salga and Imatu into agreeing to a proposal which does substantial increments for our members [sic].”

Imatu General Secretary said: “Continual increases in the cost of living‚ inflationary pressures and a sluggish economy have necessitated that we negotiate the best outcome for our members.

The proposed multi-year salary and wage agreement would ensure that local government employees receive above inflationary increases over the next three years.”