The dispute between the South African Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) and the South African Local Government Association (Salga) was resolved on Wednesday, but some Grahamstown Samwu members have expressed their dissatisfaction with the decision taken by the national structure of the union.
The dispute between the South African Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) and the South African Local Government Association (Salga) was resolved on Wednesday, but some Grahamstown Samwu members have expressed their dissatisfaction with the decision taken by the national structure of the union.
Eight working days of marches across town and strewing litter in the CBD came to an end when Samwu members received word that the union and Salga had come to an agreement on Wednesday afternoon. So the strikers gathered at Church Square to hear confirmation from their chairperson, Wandile Bikitsha.
After a faxed document was received from the Samwu national office to confirm that the strike was over, Bikitsha delivered a briefing to the crowd in Church Square. He stated that salary increases would be backdated to nine months, lawyers would be removed from disciplinary hearings and replaced with municipal officials and salaries would be based on a September 2009 scale rather than Salga’s (lower) 2008 salary scale.
According to the Samwu National Media and Publicity Officer Tahir Sema, the biggest beneficiaries of the strike would be low- and middle-income earners as they would now earn more market-related salaries.
Sema said that the basic need was to implement job evaluation and wage curves in order to close the gap between the low, middle and high income earners as well as for municipalities to outlaw the use of external lawyers in disciplinary proceedings in municipalities, as Samwu believes that this money could be used better in other areas.
“The municipalities spend around R10-million to outsource external lawyers,” when they have those resources available internally, Sema said. “The increase of the salaries will range from about a hundred to R1000.” However, he said those who already earned market-related salaries would not be affected.
Sema said that “municipal workers on the streets achieved what six years negotiations failed to achieve. We now have an agreement on wage curves starting 1 July 2010. Our long wait to introduce proper salaries for all municipal workers is now over thanks to workers’ power.”
During Bikitsha’s briefing, an air of dissatisfaction was apparent among the crowd, with one member saying, “I’m not happy. My confidence in the union is not one hundred percent.”
Trying to turn the frustrations of the members away from the Samwu chairperson, a member said, “What we are hearing from Bikitsha does not come from him. He is the mouthpiece for the union.” Another expressed concern that the strike did not achieve the desired results. “We have lost money and we did not reap the fruit of our labour, but we need to keep strong comrades!” he said.
Many members tried to follow his advice and spoke about the advantages of the strike that bought them a move from three months of back pay to nine months. “It shows that we did do something right,” a member said.
Samwu secretary Lindelwa Faltein addressed the crowd saying she was dissatisfied with the strike coming to an end as she felt that it could have gone on longer to achieve better results. “We are not happy, we were defeated by the other provinces,” she added.
However, she said, they had to adhere to the decisions of the National Executive Committee. “Because they signed the agreement, we have to follow through with their decisions. We are at least satisfied that we got back pay of nine months,” Faltein said
