Samwu denies it ‘sanctioned any strike in Tshwane’ as it vows to challenge workers’ dismissal

The South African Municipal Workers' Union (Samwu) has denied going on strike in Tshwane or sanctioning any protest action over the disputed implementation of a wage agreement deal.

This as the union vowed to challenge the dismissal of workers affiliated to the union in connection with the illegal strike.

Samwu held a briefing on Tuesday after the dismissal of the City of Tshwane's application to the SA Local Government Bargaining Council (SALGBC) to be exempted from implementing the last leg of a multi-term wage deal reached in the council in 2021.

The city argued it would be unlawful to implement the last leg of the agreement because it would breach section 15(1) of the Municipal Finance Management Act, as “there is no budgeting funding for the increase”.

While the bargaining council conceded the city is in “financial distress with major liquidity problems”, the 2023/24 financial statements indicate “an overall increase in expenditure and income of 6%, and thus it is anticipated that these measures ... will go a long way to ameliorate the applicant's [city] financial predicament”.

The SALGBC is a platform for the employer and workers to agree on wages and other conditions of employment.

Tshwane workers downed tools back in July as the city failed to implement a 5.4% wage increase for 2023, saying it is unaffordable due to its financial situation.

According to Samwu, the city also failed to implement a wage increase of 3.5% in 2021. Only that of 4.9% was implemented in 2022.

The union's general secretary, Dumisani Magagula, labelled the city's latest application for exemption “frivolous” as it provided an overview of events since the signing of a three-year wage deal back in 2021.

“In September 2021, parties in SALGBC ... concluded a three-year salary and wage collective agreement. The city [then later] applied for an exemption from implementing the 2021 agreement and as with any exemption application, the union opposed the application.

“The city made its arguments before a commissioner, who eventually ruled against it because whatever the city had claimed could not be supplemented by facts. Now recently, the city has been rushing to court instead of implementing that ... agreement. The city decided to take that [SALGBC] ruling, firstly in 2021, to the labour court, and since then the matter has never been ventilated in court,” he said.

According to Magagula, that court challenge is still underway after the labour court ordered the city and union to file heads of argument before the matter is allocated a court date. The agreement reached at the time was 3.5%.

The union accused the city of using “long and tedious” court processes to frustrate workers and get them to abandon their bid for the implementation of the 2021 wage increase.

“As a result of the non-implementation of the 2021 agreement, municipal workers are short-changed. They are losing out on the accrued increases from the first leg of the agreement.

“Our members are simply failing to make ends meet as a result of being short-changed by their own employer ... It is the union's firm view that the city wants the union to subsidise the operations of the city by interrupting certain legs of the collective agreement,” Magagula said.

Samwu's leadership denied claims that the union has been on strike since July or that it “sanctioned any strike in Tshwane”. Instead, Magagula said the union was involved in a legal process to resolve the impasse.

“The outcome of the exemption [application] is not a certificate to strike,” Magagula insisted at the briefing.

The union also used the briefing to pile blame on the city's leadership for the chaotic state of affairs since July and accused leaders of using the recent court processes to portray Samwu as a “violent union”.

“This was also an attempt by the city to gain public sympathy and pit communities against workers.

“We have also noted the slanderous allegations made by the executive mayor, which fell short of calling Samwu a terrorist organisation. The mayor is seemingly out of ideas on how to run the city.

Workers are only demanding one thing: the payment of their salaries and salary increase which is due to them.

“To ensure that indeed communities turned against the workers, the city withdrew several services. They barricaded municipal buildings with razor wire to prevent workers from accessing the workplace. This illegal lock-out resulted in a collapse of service delivery within the city and the unfortunate shooting of a Samwu member while on duty,” he said.

Samwu vowed to challenge the “unprocedural” dismissal of workers by the city as a result of the illegal strike. Tshwane in August confirmed the dismissal of more than 120 city employees for taking part in the strike.

The union's president, Nelson Mokgotho, said the union was open to negotiations on the date for the implementation of the agreement, adding that this option had always been available to the city.

The city has confirmed that it would approach the labour court on an urgent basis to review the ruling.

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