pikitup strike


Pikitup strike suspended

Thursday, April 21, 2011 No Comments by Zelda

The Pikitup strike in Johannesburg has been suspended and workers will return to work on Thursday.

The face of Johannesburg. After the suspension of the Pikitup strike on Wednesday, workers should return to work on Thrusday. Photo courtesy of iAfrica.com.

The industrial action began almost three weeks ago and saw the streets of Johannesburg and its suburbs strewn with rubbish.

The South African Municipal Workers Union (Samwu) urged Piktup workers to strike until the company investigated allegations of corruption, nepotism and wage disparities.

Samwu spokesman Tahir Sema confirmed the suspension to Business Day, saying talks will continue.

“The strike is suspended until further notice and talks will resume on the 26th of April. Two of our three demands have been met,” Sema said.

Pikitup committed to investigating corruption and that all temporary workers will become permanent, however issues of nepotism and wage disparities remain a bone of contention.

Sema confirmed that talks will reopen with the city of Johannesburg as Pikitup does not have capacity to investigate wages paid by the city.

Samwu has expressed regret regarding uncollected waste, but insist the industrial action was necessary.

“Its not only the trash on our streets but also our workers that have not been paid. It has been three weeks too long and we are happy to have them going back to work,” Sema said.

It is hoped that piled up refuse will be cleared before the Easter weekend.

Credit to: Business Day

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Rodent infestation a threat in Jhb

Tuesday, April 19, 2011 No Comments by Zelda

Uncollected rubbish littering the streets of Johannesburg central business district (CBD) has triggered a rat infestation that poses health risks in the area and a decline in business.

Certain CBD spots popular with hawkers, such as Park Station in Plein Street and the Noord Street taxi rank, have been affected the most, The Citizen newspaper reported on Tuesday.

The infestation comes amid an ongoing strike by Pikitup workers after the Johannesburg Labour Court on Monday ordered the City of Johannesburg and the SA Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) to return to negotiations.

Getrude Makondo, who trades on Noord Street, said the number of rats tripled since the strike began.

Another trader in the area, Sibusiso Nyani said business had slowed down due to the rubbish stink and rats.

“People don’t want to buy from us anymore. They walk past with their noses closed because they are trying to get away from the smell… and when they see the rats they run away,” Nyani said.

Lucas Kunene, a retired manager of environmental health in Johannesburg, said the rat infestation posed a great risk which could “explode” if not brought under control.

He said: “Joburg does not have a strategic plan to control rat infestation and that is unacceptable.”

“Rats can spread over 35 diseases. If an infected rat comes into direct contact with a human — through urine or droppings — it can spread diseases such as salmonellosis and even lassa fever,” Kunene said.

Meanwhile both the City of Johannesburg and Samwu have indicated their “willingness” to bring the Pikitup strike to an end.

“There was seven hours of cordial negotiations yesterday (Monday) from both sides and a willingness to bring the strike to an end,” said city spokesperson Gabu Tugwana on Tuesday.

“I have no doubt that on Wednesday we will be able to go to the CCMA (Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration) and tell them the strike is over.”

He said they had agreed on the initial issues brought forward by Samwu, but that the union had presented new issues on Monday.

The city had a number of sub-committees dealing with different issues affecting the strike.

Tugwana said the city had told Samwu it was unable to meet demands immediately as time and resources were needed.

He said the city had called on service providers on its database to help with the clean-up of waste in the interim.

Clean up of the inner-city improvement districts had started, he said.

“As a service delivery organisation we can’t stand with our arms folded and ignore the increase of waste… we are continuing with efforts to reduce rubble. We are doing all that we can.

“We will continue to get all hands on deck,” Tugwana said.

He said the city’s primary concern was to resume normal refuse removal services to residents and businesses in Johannesburg at the earliest opportunity and to remove the backlog which had built up over the past two weeks.

Credit to: Times Live and News 24

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Pikitup: City accepts court ruling

Tuesday, April 19, 2011 No Comments by Zelda

A Labour Court verdict dismissing the City of Johannesburg’s attempt to stop the Pikitup strike is “a reasonable outcome”, the city said on Monday.

The city said it would continue to seek a negotiated solution to the industrial action with the SA Municipal Workers Union (Samwu) at the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration.

“The primary concern for the City is to resume normal refuse removal services to residents and businesses in Johannesburg at the earliest opportunity and to remove the backlog that has built up over the past two weeks,” it said.

“The city shares the growing anger among residents about the continuing non-delivery of refuse removal services. We are convinced that the outstanding issues can be resolved through negotiations in good faith.”

The city commended communities which had embarked on initiatives to organise refuse removal in their own neighbourhoods.

Operating hours at the city’s landfill sites had been extended to facilitate the collection of refuse deposited by resident and businesses.

The city said it was “concerned” about the growing incidents of intimidation, violence, vandalism and the trashing of streets allegedly by municipal workers.

“We call on Samwu to condemn such actions and to instruct its members to refrain from activities that are against the best interests of city residents.”

Samwu said it remained hopeful that the Pikitup strike which had left city dirt bins overflowing could soon be called off.

“If the employer signs its own proposals it tabled in connection with the union’s demands, then the strike action will be called off today and workers will be sent back to work,” said Samwu spokesperson Tahir Sema in a statement.

“The union will announce on Tuesday morning the status of the strike. But as of this moment the strike action is still on.”

About 80% of the 2 000 Samwu members within Pikitup first went on a “go slow” before the strike, causing a severe refuse removal backlog in the city.

During the strike, Pikitup managing director Zami Nkosi, Pikitup board chairperson Phumla Radebe and several other board members resigned.

It appeared to be on the brink of ending last week but a document containing proposals was not signed.

City spokesperson Gabu Tugwana said the only outstanding issue was people participating in the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP).

The EPWP is a government initiative to create jobs by providing temporary work for the unemployed. This is typically in labour-intensive infrastructure development and municipal services.

Sema said that Samwu believed that the EPWP acted as a labour broker and that they wanted people working on this programme to be employed permanently, not temporarily.

Credit to: News 24

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Pikitup and city backs out of agreement

Friday, April 15, 2011 1 Comment by Zelda

Heaps of rubbish is piling up all over Johannesburg and the stench is becoming unbearable.

The face of Johannesburg.

Yet Pikitup and the City of Johannesburg backed out of an agreement they reached with Samwu last Friday.

The South African Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) said earlier in the week that it had accepted the City of Johannesburg’s and Pikitup’s minimum wage offer of R6 609 to end a refuse-worker strike, but apparently Joburg mayor Amos Masondo had interfered in the process to ensure that Pikitup management did not sign the agreement.

Refuse workers based at waste-management agency Pikitup went on strike more than a week ago demanding that an investigation be commissioned into allegations of corruption worth millions related to tender fraud.

The workers were also asking to level pay disparities so that there would be a minimum wage of R6 609.

Samwu held a press conference on Wednesday afternoon to air two issues.

One, that Masondo was a spanner in the works of a wage agreement being signed between Pikitup and the union, and two, that a meeting of an investigation task team that was set up to tackle corruption and nepotism did not take place on Tuesday as planned.

“All we want is for the city management and Pikitup to sign the proposals that had been tabled on Friday; the strike will then be called off.

Workers are happy with the proposals that were made on Friday and have accepted the offer,” said Menzi Luthuli, Samwu’s Gauteng provincial organiser.

But he added: “We cannot understand why both the City of Johannesburg and Pikitup have backed out of signing the agreement that the parties have reached and why they have not commissioned the investigation task team. We are willing to call off the strike and are waiting at the negotiating table …”

Gabu Tugwana, director for communications in the mayor’s office, could not be reached for comment.

At the time of publishing, Pikitup CEO Zingisile Ntsaluba was not available for comment on whether the mayor was interfering in the process and what was happening to the investigation into corruption and nepotism.

Meanwhile, this week all the Pikitup board members, except one, resigned. Tahir Sema, Samwu’s spokesperson, said that that while the resignations were a step in the right direction, the union had no intention of forging ahead with wanting an investigation — it has handed documents showing alleged corruption to the Special Investigation Unit and to the Hawks.

Credit to: Mail and Guardian

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Pikitup on full-blown strike

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Pikitup or ThrowitDown?

Wednesday, April 13, 2011 No Comments by Zelda

Pikitup chairwoman, Phumla Radebe, and several board members have resigned, the City of Johannesburg said on Wednesday.

Pikitup should consider changing their name.

“The City of Johannesburg regrets receiving a letter of resignation from several members of the Pikitup Board, including the chair, humla Radebe,” said spokesman Gabu Tugwana.

The resignation of board members came after the managing director of Pikitup, Zami Nkosi, resigned with immediate effect.

The city announced Nkosi’s resignation on Saturday, saying his successor would be announced at the end of the week after the sitting of the mayoral committee.

Refuse workers at the waste management agency went on strike last week, demanding among other things, that an internal investigation be commissioned into allegations of corruption and irregular tenders.

They also wanted Nkosi to be suspended pending the investigation.

Meanwhile the stench of uncollected refuse is thickening over Johannesburg and no one seems to know when the strike by Pikitup collectors will be over.

Garbage has been piling up all over the city and some residents are dumping theirs outside the gates of locked dumping sites.

Pikitup spokesman Pansy Oyedele said health inspectors were being deployed to assess the situation.

She said residents should not be paying at any of the 42 dumping sites in the city, and individuals who tried to charge at these sites did so unlawfully.

City of Johannesburg spokesman Gabu Tugwana blamed strikers and other “intimidators” for gates at dumping sites being locked.

He said the city had started to employ private contractors to remove refuse from areas where piles were the biggest.

The strikers had been “nothing but difficult”, Tugwana said, confirming that the city would take the protesting workers to court.

Credit to: Independent Online, Sapa and Times Live

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Pikitup workers face legal action

Tuesday, April 12, 2011 No Comments by Zelda

The SA Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu), representing striking Pikitup workers, may face legal action, a City of Johannesburg spokesman said on Tuesday.

“The health of the city is at risk, we can’t allow that to happen,” City spokesman Gabu Tugwana said.

He said the city earlier approached the Labour Court, and all necessary documentation had been filed.

“We hope the court gets back to us as soon as today or tomorrow,” he said.

The city gave workers until Tuesday morning to get back to work as it felt that it had addressed workers’ demands during talks at the weekend.

Tugwana said the SA Local Government Bargaining Council had granted permission to strike based on four demands, which had been addressed in the talks.

Additional services had been hired to help reduce the accumulating piles of rubbish, “even though the city did not have money to throw around”, Tugwana said.

“One week [of strikes] is one week too long… these kinds of things attract rats and so forth.”

Additional services were working in phases around the city and there was some kind of progress in the Roodepoort area, he said.

Garden and landfill sites had extended their operating hours.

Striking workers were demanding, among other things, an internal investigation into alleged corruption and irregular tenders at the company.

Refuse collection workers embarked on a strike on Thursday.

Samwu spokesman Tahir Sema said the union was informed of the city’s legal intention, but said they had no legal grounds to stand on.

Sema said workers were not back at work as they still had to be presented with the proposals from the city, and would have to indicate if they accepted or rejected them.

“This takes a few days, [the process] works via a mandate. There’s nothing much we can do.”

He said the city did not understand that the union needed to explain the proposals to its members in various languages.

“This process takes time. We are not in breach of anything, we did indicate that we are happy,” Sema said.

Workers would be addressed in Joubert Park later on Tuesday.

“Should they agree on the city’s proposal, they will be back at work tomorrow [Wednesday].”

The following landfill sites would accept domestic refuse free of charge:
- Goudkoppies, Houthammer Road, Devland,
- Marie Louise, Dobsonville Road, Roodepoort,
- Robinson Deep, Turffontein Road, Turffontein,
- Ennerdale, Old Lawley Road, Lawley.

Credit to: Times Live

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Pikitup strike continues

No end in sight for refuse strike

Pikitup on full-blown strike

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Pikitup strike continues

Monday, April 11, 2011 No Comments by Zelda

The strike by Pikitup workers will continue until commitments for change by the City of Johannesburg were put on paper, SA Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) said on Monday.

“We are satisfied with some of the city’s proposals, but we still need to take these to the workers … we are not willing to call off the strike until we have commitments on paper from the city,” said spokesperson Tahir Sema.

Negotiations to resolve the dispute between the city and Samwu were last held on Saturday.

They are expected to continue on Monday.

Sema said he was confident that a resolution would be reached within the next few days.

“We are waiting for the wage dispute to be levelled out and for an assurance that contract employees will be made permanent.

“We need this in writing before we stop striking because since 2008 the city has been making promises and breaking them, and the workers have lost trust in them,” Sema said.

Samwu was also demanding an investigation into corruption and nepotism, which it claims have led to the wage disparities.

City spokesperson Gabu Tugwana said there was no reason for workers to continue striking.

“We [the city] have addressed all the issues brought to us by Samwu, they [the workers] have no reason to continue striking.

“We hope that with such experienced leaders they can rise above and stop striking,” he said.

“We are confident that the issues will be resolved soon,” Tugwana said.

Meanwhile, Pikitup managing director Zami Nkosi resigned on Saturday night.

“A successor for Mr Nkosi will be announced by the end of next week after the sitting of the mayoral committee,” said Tugwana.

Credit to: Mail & Guardian and Sapa

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Pikitup on full-blown strike

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No end in sight for refuse strike

Friday, April 8, 2011 No Comments by Zelda

Johannesburg residents will have to handle their own refuse for now as there is no end in sight to the strike that has left a stink over the city.

Pikitup spokesman Pansy Oyedele asked residents Thursday to take their rubbish to the city’s four dumping sites.

“The primary objective of Pikitup is to ensure the earliest possible resumption of refuse removal services in the interest of Johannesburg residents and businesses,” said Oyedele.
She could not say when the strike would end.

Pikitup refuse collection workers began a series of protests yesterday from Joubert Park, Johannesburg, to their Selby depot, protesting at Pikitup management “corruption and nepotism”.

South African Municipal Workers’ Union spokesman Tahir Sema said the workers were unhappy about “corruption and irregular tenders that were awarded”.

Sema demanded the suspension of the company’s MD. “We are also demanding that management look into wage disparities,” he said. The protests would go on indefinitely.

Samwu discussed its concerns with the Johannesburg city manager, Mavela Dlamini.

The unions yesterday prohibited strikers from speaking to the media.

However, one protester, who asked to remain anonymous, passionately described his feelings about Pikitup management. “People get more than you and we work the same job, how would you feel? That’s why we are here,” he said.

“If we don’t cry, we don’t get anything.”

Credit to: News 24

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Pikitup on full-blown strike

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Pikitup on full-blown strike

Thursday, April 7, 2011 1 Comment by Zelda

Johannesburg’s refuse collectors, employed by waste-management agency Pikitup, began a full-blown strike on Thursday morning, the South African Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) said.

Spokesperson Tahir Sema said about 2 000 workers were busy gathering for a meeting on the first day of the strike.

He could not immediately confirm the meeting point. However, Johannesburg metro police spokesperson Chief Superintendent Wayne Minnaar said that workers were expected to gather in Joubert Park.

Pikitup received the strike notice earlier this week after workers embarked on a go-slow in certain areas.

Workers have accused Pikitup of being “riddled with corruption”, and of refusing to address workers’ legitimate concerns.

“Workers are concerned about the department and would want for Pikitup to be free from corruption and nepotism,” Sema said.

Other disputes were around wage disparities and the intimidation of union members.

Sema said most Pikitup employees were union members.

Pikitup spokesperson Pansy Oyedele said on Wednesday that the company tried everything in its power to reach an agreement with Samwu.

She said that management met with Samwu on Wednesday to try to find a way forward.

However, Sema said Samwu repeatedly made calls for an urgent meeting with Pikitup, to no avail.

“Management has refused to meet with us,” he said.

Meanwhile, Pikitup asked residents who do not have their rubbish collected during the strike to be patient, and to keep it inside their yards for the time being.

“… We are asking residents who do not have their waste collected to please keep it inside their yard and be patient,” Oyedele said.

People with the capacity could take general waste to the four landfill sites that would also remain open, Oyedele said.

These sites are: Goudkoppies in Houthammer Road, Devland; Marie Louise in Dobsonville Road, Roodepoort; Robinson Deep in Turffontein Road, Turffontein; and Ennerdale in Old Lawley Road, Lawley.

Pikitup’s garden sites will remain open during the strike, but only for garden waste and not general domestic refuse.

Oyedele could not detail contingency plans in the event of an extended strike.

Credit to: Mail & Guardian and Sapa

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