THE South African Local Government Association (SALGA) and the South African Municipal Workers’ Union (SAMWU) both announced on Monday that they had filed dispute papers on Friday after they could not break a deadlock with unions in municipal wage negotiations.
This comes after the final round of wage negotiations under the South African Local Government Bargaining Council (SALGBC) – which were scheduled for last week Thursday and Friday – ended as SAMWU announced that it had no interest in continuing the process.
SAMWU said its members demanded a R4 000 salary increase across the board, and a sectoral minimum wage of R15 000.
The bargaining council proposed a three-year wage agreement, a 4% salary increase in the first year and with projected CPI minus 1% in the other years.
The demands also include calls for a 80% employer medical aid contribution and 20% employee contribution; six months fully paid maternal leave and one month fully paid paternity leave; a 25% employer contribution towards pension; absorption of all Extended Public Works Programme and Community Work Programme workers in municipalities; and the rationalisation of pension funds in the sector.
SAMWU said SALGA has literally shown workers the middle finger by snubbing their request for the political leadership to partake in the negotiations.
“They have provoked workers by seeking to engage in positional negotiations, they have further agitated workers by denying them decent salary and wage increases,” said SAMWU.
SALGA said in a statement that the declaration of the deadlock in the municipal wage talks by SAMWU came after rounds of negotiations between the parties, which culminated in the issuing of a facilitator’s proposal.
“SALGA noted SAMWU latest position with a great deal of disappointment as it genuinely believed that there was potential that the negotiations could reach an agreement,” the statement said.
SALGA said it opted for a section 74 referral due to the fact that all municipalities perform the designated essential services.
“Employees in the designated essential services are prohibited from participating in strike action in terms of the Labour Relations Act. In these circumstances, the dispute can only be resolved through interest arbitration as opposed to strike action,” the statement said.
SALGA said at the weekend it was committed to maintaining order and said service delivery would not be interrupted. The association added that financial sustainability of municipalities would be its main priority as government continues to grapple with the Covid-19 pandemic.
- Own Correspondent
