Residents of Bloemfontein can brace themselves to be inconvenienced by the current municipal strike for much longer.
Workers of the Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality say they are fed up and have no intention of ending their strike against the municipality until their demands are met.
Provincial secretary of the South African Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu), Thabang Tseuoa, says while the union is currently in talks with the office of the mayor, no satisfactory agreement has been reached.
“The more we are not in agreement, the longer this strike will continue.” While Tseuoa admits that the union’s list of demands is a long one, one of the key issues he believes will make workers end the strike, is the adjustment of workers’ salaries, just as the salaries of councillors and other top officials have been adjusted.
“If you remember, this municipality became a metro in 2011. Since that date up to now, high ranking members in the municipality had their salaries adjusted from ‘local government level’ to ‘metropolitan municipality’ level. Our workers are still earning the local government salaries and this adjustment was not made for them. This strike is about protesting against that difference, among other things,” he says.
According to Tseuoa the municipality has sought an interdict against the striking workers so that city property is not damaged during the strike.
“We are aware that some of our members are being blamed for the spillage of rubbish bins all around the city and other disturbing things that reveal elements of criminal behaviour. It becomes hard to say with certainty if these incidents were performed by our workers or opportunists using our strike as a means to do their own thing. What I can say is that we are working closely with the police and have requested our members not to damage city property but rather stay within the confines of our strike, as it is a legal one.”
Finally, Tseuoa says waste collection, water, and sanitation as well other services provided by the municipality, will be on hold until promises of salary adjustments are made.
Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality spokesperson, Qondile Khedama, has confirmed that the city management is in talks with Samwu but could not comment further on the matter. –Â Pulane Choane pulane@centralmediagroup.co.za
