About 200Â 000 municipal workers will down tools next Tuesday during a one-day nationwide strike expected to affect all major cities, municipal unions said on Friday.
The South African Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) and the Independent Municipal and Allied Trade Union told journalists at a media briefing that Tuesday will “see a series of marches, pickets, and other forms of demonstrations in almost every city and town across the country”.
“We had to resort to this in the face of a ridiculously low offer from the employers’ organisation, Salga [the South African Local Government Association],” the unions said.
The strike comes after a deadlock in wage negotiations in June when the unions rejected Salga’s three-year wage increase offer of 6% for 2005/06, 0,5% plus CPIX for 2006/07 and 0,4% plus CPIX for 2007/08.
“This offer constitutes a negative increase, considering the high cost of fuel and transport, that house prices have increased on average 32% in the past 18 months and that medical expenses have increased by 8,4%,” Samwu general secretary Rogger Ronnie said.
The unions are demanding a 9% across-the-board increase and a minimum wage of R3Â 000. The current minimum is R2Â 500 a month.
They said the demand is “both reasonable and fair” and in line with the provision of the Freedom Charter that states that workers should receive a living wage.
“But instead of increasing workers’ wages, Salga wants to decrease the minimum wage from R2Â 500 to R2Â 300,” said Samwu president Petrus Mashishi.
The unions said this would “condemn thousands of lives to abject poverty”.
They said they have arranged 60 marches, which will take place in major cities such as Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban and East London and in small towns such as Delmas, Welkom, Kuruman and Pofadder.
In Johannesburg, workers will gather at Library Gardens from where they will march to the Salga provincial office.
Ronnie said members are currently being balloted, and should there be no action from the government after the strike, further action will be considered.