The three-day strike by municipal workers that started on Wednesday is just the first of many to come between now and February next year, Congress of South African Trade Unions secretary general Zwelinzima Vavi said in Johannesburg on Wednesday.
Vavi said the strike by members of the South African Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) is just “a warning shot”.
“Those complaining about the strike have not seen anything yet,” Vavi told marchers outside the Johannesburg Civic Centre.
“Today, we are just firing warning shots for Salga [the South African Local Government Association] to understand that unless it makes more progress in its offer, there will be more strikes,” he said.
The workers are demanding a 9% salary increase. Salga is offering 6%.
Vavi said Samwu has observed that the “apartheid wage gap” is increasing at an alarming rate.
Workers have little reason to celebrate the gains of democracy as “the rich have become richer and the poor poorer”.
Thousands of municipal workers left a trail of litter in their wake as they marched illegally from the city centre to the mayor’s office — amid metro police threats to arrest anyone caught discarding their trash on the roads.
Johannesburg metro police director Chris Ngcobo initially threatened to stop the march in the absence of permission, but later allowed it to proceed, monitored by metro police officers.
Municipal workers later in the afternoon upended dustbins on to the streets of Johannesburg, disrupting traffic, as they made their way home.
They were venting their disappointment at the failure of Johannesburg executive mayor Amos Masondo to meet them and personally receive their memorandum of grievances.
Workers waited three hours for Masondo outside his office in the Johannesburg Civic Centre, insisting they would not leave until he came down to address them.
In the end, Samwu deputy general secretary Andile Sihlahla told marchers they will return to the civic centre on Thursday and that it is in Masondo’s best interests to be there.
Poor discipline in Cape Town
Sporadic incidents of poor discipline, including the hurling of bottles at Cape Town city manager Wallace Mgoqi, marred the Samwu march in the city on Wednesday.
Mgoqi was on hand to accept a memorandum and letter, addressed to Salga’s chairperson Amos Masondo, proposing that Salga amend its 6% offer currently on the table.
“The 6% offer this year and inflation plus 0,5% in 2006 and inflation plus 0,4% in 2007 is an insult to us. In addition, the minimum wage of R2 300 offered by Salga comes nowhere near a decent living wage for municipal workers,” the memorandum stated.
Samwu said it is unacceptable that Salga seeks to play off the demands of municipal workers against service-delivery needs of communities.
“This argument is never advanced when it comes to paying ridiculously high salaries to senior managers and millions to consultants. This argument is also not raised with increases of 7% to councillors’ allowances.”
A crowd of about 2 000 marched through the city centre to deliver the memorandum.
Along the way, bins were overturned and rubbish strewn in roads, as unruly union members, some clearly inebriated, sought to sow as much havoc as possible.
A police superintendent who tried to intervene and stop a marcher from spreading the rubbish from a broken black bag was quickly surrounded by knobkerrie-brandishing comrades, seeking to protect their colleague.
However, swift intervention by marshals diffused the situation.
‘They are angry’
Asked about the apparent poor discipline, Samwu general secretary Roger Ronnie said: “They are angry. It’s difficult to control them when they are angry, but as you can see, marshals are trying.”
Addressing the crowd later, Ronnie said workers were on the streets because the “bosses have hearts of stone.”
“We will strike until we achieve our demands,” he said, revving up the crowd when he added that Salga on Tuesday had unilaterally decided to implement the 6% increase without resorting to further negotiations.
Congress of South African Trade Unions provincial secretary Tony Ehrenreich warned that worker dissatisfaction could influence the forthcoming local government elections.
“We can only support people who support us,” he said.
Ehrenreich said workers want the rights to which they are entitled.
Strike ‘well supported’
Samwu provincial secretary Andre Adams said mass action across the province was well supported, with reports indicating that 80% of workers in the Boland, 70% in the Garden Route/Karoo and 60% in the West Coast areas were on strike.
“We are sending a message … if you do not accede to our demands, you will face the wrath of Samwu,” Adams said.
His figures were disputed by city officials, who said local government services in Cape Town were virtually unaffected by noon.
According to the Cape Town unicity’s communications department, no major disruptions had been reported by noon.
Only one minor incident, at an electricity depot in Atlantis, had been reported.
Workers had locked the gates to the depot entrance for about an hour-and-a-half, but these had subsequently been unlocked and work resumed.
Earlier, city spokesperson Mandla Tyala said contingency plans to ensure minimal disruption of services had been put in place ahead of the strike.
Tyala said in a statement that while the city respects the rights of employees to strike, its first duty is to ensure service delivery.
Workers in essential services — such as health, traffic, fire and emergency, city police and those providing water, electricity and sanitation, including solid waste removal — may not go out on strike. — Sapa