The two municipal workers’ unions involved in a pay dispute have rejected a revised pay deal, the unions said on Thursday.
”It was an overwhelming no,” Independent Municipal and Allied Trade Union (Imatu) spokesperson Clive Dunstan said on the deadline for acceptance of a proposal that unions and employers change their negotiating mandates. The South African Local Government Association (Salga) accepted the proposal.
Dunstan said the new deal was conditional upon employees accepting a reduction in the employer’s contribution to the workers’ medical-aid subscriptions, which would result in all employees earning less.
”Salga’s proposal amounts to the employees having to pay for the increase out of their own pockets,” an Imatu statement said.
The union said Salga had undermined its fundamental right to collective bargaining by implementing the unilateral increase.
South African Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) spokesperson Roger Ronnie said the union is not prepared to commit to a three-year wage increase tied in with inflation.
”We can’t gamble with our workers increases by accepting CPIX parameters. We could have a major crash and inflation could go up, so those kinds of formulae are not acceptable.”
With the dispute unresolved, workers’ pay packets will reflect the 6% unilaterally imposed by Salga before they went on strike.
They will also not be paid for the days they were on strike.
A worker earning about R3 000 a month will have forfeited about R150 a day to the strike’s ”no work, no pay” principle.
Imatu and Samwu went on strike for one day on July 12 and Samwu followed this up with a number of countrywide campaigns.
The unions were demanding an 8% increase and a minimum wage of R3 000 a month. A mediator’s proposed included that the unions and Salga consider a settlement that included 6% plus an additional 1,5% from February for workers earning below R4 792 per month.
Both Ronnie and Dunstan said the strike action had carried a risk for workers.
”It is one of the hard things that they have to deal with. They sacrificed to get something higher, and it didn’t work out,” said Dunstan.
He added that the across-the-board raise is not even guaranteed, as poorer municipalities are allowed to apply for an exemption.
The minimum wage is also not applied nationally, with some workers getting R2 700 and others R1 800, depending on what their municipality can afford.
The Samwu strike was marked by clashes with the police that saw almost 150 people arrested for alleged damage to property. Police are also investigating at least two deaths believed to be linked to the protests.
Samwu said the dispute remains, with the possibility of further strikes. — Sapa