BL Premium reports that the four-month illegal work stoppage by City of Tshwane mtro employees, which saw municipal property such as garbage trucks and other infrastructure vandalised and destroyed, is over. Workers who downed tools in July demanding higher wages elected on Monday to abandon the strike action and returned to their work stations after the metro dug in its heels.

Members of the SA Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) had been demanding that the metro implement a 5.4% wage increase, being the last leg of a three-year wage agreement signed at the SA Local Government Bargaining Council (SALGBC) in 2021. The city, which had refused to negotiate with the union, has consistently maintained that it does not have the R600m required for the agreement and has unsuccessfully applied to the SALGBC for an exemption.

More than 120 striking workers have been fired for taking part in the strike action that the Labour Court declared unlawful. The protracted strike prompted the CCMA to invoke a section 150 public interest intervention. On Monday, CCMA director Cameron Morajane indicated: “Significant progress has been made in an attempt to resolve the dispute. The parties [City of Tshwane, Samwu and Imatu] have reported that workers returned to work and operations returned to normal.” Samwu’s Dumisane Magagula indicated: “Now we are involved in a CCMA intervention process which seeks to bring parties to an agreement on how the salary increases would be paid.”

by Luyolo Mkentane –
Ref: Business Live (SA Labour News)