Samwu insists City of Tshwane must pay workers their money

South Africa Municipal Workers Union (Samwu) says the City of Tshwane must pay workers their money and stop wasting funds on legal fees to block salary increases. That’s after the South African Local Government Bargaining Council dismissed the city’s application to exempt it from paying salary increases for the 2023/24 financial year.

The city now plans to take the matter on review at the labour court.

After weeks of a crippling Samwu strike that left the city in a state of chaos as service delivery suffered, the South African Local Government Bargaining Council ruled in favour of the workers. But the city says the battle is not over and for Samwu this is a waste of taxpayers’ money.

“It’s a waste of time … (the) city has already spent millions on lawyers, only to lose the battle,” says Mpho Tladinyane, Samwu Gauteng Secretary.

But the City is adamant that it won’t back down. It’s taking the Bargaining Council outcome on review.

“We believe there are grounds for this review application,” says Cilliers Brink, Tshwane mayor.

Although the City of Tshwane says it doesn’t have money to pay salary increases, Samwu believes significant evidence presented at the Barging Council proves otherwise.

The union says although its members are not on strike anymore, the fight for salary increases will intensify if the city doesn’t pay workers.

If the City of Tshwane loses its bid at the Labour Court, it still has another shot at the Appeals Court to block salary increases. And while the municipality and the union are at loggerheads over salary increments, service delivery continues to suffer as workers are on a go-slow, leaving thousands of Tshwane residents frustrated.