The South African Local Government Bargaining Council (SALGBC) has ordered the City of Tshwane to comply with the 2021/22 salary and wage agreement and effect the necessary adjustments within six months.
The SALGBC on Friday dismissed an application by Tshwane to be exempted from honouring the wage agreement it had signed with the South African Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) and the Independent Municipal and Allied Trade Union. The city had asserted that the R489m wage increase was unaffordable as it lacked the necessary cash, cash reserves or cash equivalents to cover the additional costs.
“The SALGBC has now, unequivocally and for the second time, upheld the rights of workers, directing the city to pay workers the overdue 3.5% salary increases that were supposed to be effected in July 2021,” Samwu said on Monday.
The union said the award served as a legal defeat for the city and also a triumph of justice over executive arrogance and a validation of workers’ dignity.
The SALGBC finding showed that Tshwane had failed to prove unaffordability and instead chosen to prioritise massive increases in non-essential expenditures, such as inflated contracted services, it said.
“For years, while the city played endless legal games, workers in Tshwane and their families have been subjected to severe and unjust economic hardship.”
The union said these delays had forced its members to face soaring costs of living without the crucial salary adjustments that were legally due to them.
“This hardship was not just a misfortune, it was a direct consequence of the employer’s deliberate actions to shirk a binding collective agreement,” Samwu said.
In its award, the SALGBC found that Tshwane did not allocate funds for the 2021/22 salary increases within its budget for the 2021/22 financial year.
SALGBC commissioner Lucas Mabusela found that the city had not demonstrated it had considered salary increases as an integral expenditure affecting service delivery, while simultaneously increasing expenditure in other areas, for example contracted services from R3.81bn in 2021 to R4.12bn in 2022.
“Considering particularly the R1.1bn used to fund capital expenditure in 2021, along with cash and cash equivalents of R209m and investments of R404m, it would be challenging to justify not granting salary increases solely based on liquidity,” Mabusela said.
Mabusela said based on the information provided, he did not believe that Tshwane’s liquidity challenges, which had led to not budgeting for the salary increase, had warranted an exemption from paying the salary increase.
Samwu said the labour instability and service delivery crises that have plagued Tshwane were not caused by the workers demanding their dues, but by the employer’s systemic disrespect and devaluation of its workforce.
“This dismissal (of the exemption application) now demands immediate, non-negotiable compliance. We therefore urge the city and its management to implement this ruling without further delay,” the union said.
TimesLIVE
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