The Rep writes that scores of Enoch Mgijima local muni­cip­al­ity (EMLM) work­ers, affil­i­ated to the SA Muni­cipal Work­ers Union (SAMWU), returned to work after their employ­ers secured a court inter­dict against strik­ing work­ers con­cern­ing a dis­pute over wage increases. Their griev­ances over a nego­ti­ated wage hike arrange­ment came after the SA Local Gov­ern­ment Asso­ci­ation (Salga) signed a “‘his­toric” five-year wage increase deal with the labour uni­ons.

The deal stip­u­lates that the wage increases will be effect­ive from July 1 2024 to June 30 2029, with an increase of 4.5% from July 1 2025 and a fur­ther 1.5% in March 1 2025. “EMLM has taken a decis­ive action to safe­guard the pub­lic and private prop­erty, employ­ees, cus­tom­ers, and gov­ern­ment infra­struc­ture by secur­ing a court inter­dict on Octo­ber 2 2024. “This legal action was promp­ted by an illegal strike organ­ised by mem­bers of Samwu, dur­ing which non-strik­ing employ­ees faced threats, intim­id­a­tion, and coer­cion to leave their work places,” EMLM spokes­per­son Lon­w­abo Kowa said.

SAMWU downed tools and set up bar­ri­cades with burn­ing tyres on Septem­ber 27, clos­ing off Owen Street in front of the offices of budget and treas­ury and the traffic depart­ment. Their “illegal strike” con­tin­ued on Thursday and, after a brief meet­ing, they con­tin­ued their protest singing and chant­ing in front of the Jesus Christ Church, which was due to host an EMLM spe­cial coun­cil meet­ing. As a res­ult, the meet­ing was moved to Chris Hani dis­trict muni­cip­al­ity coun­cil cham­bers.

But the strik­ing EMLM work­ers later arrived at the venue and deman­ded to meet exec­ut­ive mayor Madoda Pap­iy­ana. Offi­cials were forced to shut the gates to the entrance when the strik­ing EMLM work­ers tried to force their way in to the meet­ing in an attempt to force Pap­iy­ana out of the venue so he could address the aggrieved work­ers. Kowa said the court order effect­ively pro­hib­ited the lead­ers and par­ti­cipants of the illegal strike from enga­ging in any acts of intim­id­a­tion against employ­ees and cus­tom­ers, dam­aging infra­struc­ture through burn­ing or other means, using harm­ful sub­stances in offices, obstruct­ing traffic, or from lit­ter­ing in pub­lic spaces.

“Fur­ther­more, SAMWU and its lead­er­ship have been ordered to bear the costs asso­ci­ated with this court applic­a­tion,” he said. He said the muni­cip­al­ity acknow­ledged the right of indi­vidu­als and organ­isa­tions to express their views but this should be done within the required legal frame­work. “Mem­bers of the pub­lic are advised that the muni­cipal man­ager’s office remains open for busi­ness as usual. “All employ­ees are expec­ted to report for duty dur­ing reg­u­lar work­ing hours and remain at their work­sta­tions dur­ing these times,” Kowa said.

by Uviwe Jara