municipal strike


Massive municipal strike coming

Thursday, August 4, 2011 No Comments by Zelda

More than 200 000 water, sanitation and refuse workers plan a wage strike in the coming days that could disrupt services in major cities, their union said on Wednesday.

Previous Samwu strikes have led to garbage piling up in city streets. Photo courtesy of The New Age.

The planned strike by the SA Municipal Workers Union (Samwu) is the latest in a series of work stoppages that have slowed commerce and raised worries about growth.

Samwu said in a statement the employers’ “failure to meet the legitimate demand of the workers and their failure to improve on their previous offer at conciliation today leaves the union with no choice but to engage in industrial action”.

No date has been set for the strike.

Employers have offered 6.8% wage increases, while the union wants 18% – nearly four times the inflation rate.

Previous Samwu strikes have led to garbage piling up in city streets and slower repairs of broken water pipes, irritating residents in urban areas.

In other labour disputes, unionised gold and coal workers reached deals this week for 7.5% to 10% wage hikes to end strikes that dented mining output.

Credit to: News 24

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Samwu down tools in Friday

Monday, May 9, 2011 No Comments by Zelda

Members of SA Municipal Workers Unions (Samwu) will embark on a national strike on Friday following a deadlock on wage negotiations among other issues, The New Age newspaper reported on Monday.

Samwu, that has 220 000 members working for municipalities across the country, said its members would strike to force government to meet its demands.

Workers are demanding an 18% wage increase.

They will down tools on Friday, five days before the local government elections.

They are also demanding that President Jacob Zuma not sign into law the Municipal Amendment Bill. The bill is intended to depoliticise municipalities and ensure that they appoint skilled people.

It also demands that Zuma fire Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Siceclo Shiceka and that provincial governments be scrapped.

Credit to: Fin 24

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Mass municipal strike coming

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Mass municipal strike coming

Thursday, April 21, 2011 No Comments by Zelda

The South African Municipal Workers Union on Wednesday announced its members would go on a nationwide strike in May.

A previous municipal strike. Photo courtesy of SABC News.

Spokesperson for the union Tahir Sema said they decided to embark on the strike due to “a number of issues nationally, affecting the union and its membership”.

The strike would start in the Free State on May 10 and Gauteng May 11 as they were “hot spot provinces”. National action was planned for May 13 and then it would spread to the North West on May 27 and Mpumalanga on May 31.

In a statement he said the union confirmed its support for the ANC in the upcoming local government elections.

“The programme of action … is not in any way intended to disrupt the upcoming local government elections and will ensure we respect citizens’ rights to participate in the elections.”

He said the protest would continue until the problems raised were resolved.

During the strike members planned to march and deliver memorandums to Gauteng MEC for co-operative governance and traditional affairs, the South African Local Government Association, the Free State premier, the ministers of labour, public enterprises and justice and the presidency.

Problems raised by Samwu included “attacks” on workers and union leaders as well as “political dismissals”, the privatisation of public services and assets, and the transfer of services from local to provincial government.

The union wants the president not to sign the Municipal Systems Amendment Bill into law, and remove provincial government from the Constitution. It wants limitations on workers’ rights to strike removed from statutes, an end to labour brokers and corruption and Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Sicelo Shiceka dismissed, if the allegations against him were true. It also raised its concerns about police brutality.

“These mass actions will be used to name and shame the beneficiaries of corruption within the public sector and the private sector.”

Credit to: News 24

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Municipal workers threaten to strike

Friday, January 14, 2011 No Comments by Zelda

Municipal workers throughout the country may down tools next week in solidarity with 91 Metsimaholo municipal employees in Sasolburg who were dismissed, Samwu said yesterday.

“If the on-going talks fail, municipality workers will go on strike next week. As from tomorrow (Friday) we will issue out a call to all of our provincial structures throughout the country for workers to begin formulating solidarity campaigns,” SA Municipal Workers’ Union spokesperson Tahir Sema said in a statement.

This was to ensure the 91 “improperly dismissed” workers were immediately reinstated.

“If the management of the Metsimaholo municipality does not revoke the dismissals and the trumped up charges against employees, then the provincial solidarity campaigns will culminate into sympathy strikes, which would cripple the delivery of services to communities.”

The 91 were sacked for participating in last year’s public sector strike. They were informed of their dismissal via fax on Tuesday.

“The municipality has claimed that the dismissals are as a result of the 2010 Samwu national strike. As the largest local government union we cannot understand what is meant by the above, as our last national strike was a legal and protected strike action, of which every South African has a democratic right to participate in.”

Sema claimed the workers were being victimised.

Credit to: Sapa

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