Three people were injured and 22 striking refuse workers were arrested for intimidation and public disturbance in Pretoria on Tuesday, the City of Tshwane said.
Member of the mayoral committee Gabriel Thwala said the workers were throwing rubbish into the streets and were intimidating non-striking workers, of whom three were injured.
He said the police had been called in to contain the situation, which had stalled aspects of the clean-up process and resulted in not all of the trucks operating.
”Such actions do not at all advance their interests,” he said.
The 1 268 workers employed by Milnex went on strike last Monday. They wanted to be directly employed by the municipality rather than through labour-brokerage companies contracted to the council.
Thwala said Milnex and its striking employees, who were also South African Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) members, were negotiating in bad faith.
He was speaking after meeting both Milnex and Samwu on Tuesday.
”We have offered to mediate, not because we are obliged to do so, but because we are an affected party.
”It is our services and our ability to serve our residents and institutions that have been affected. We have an obligation to offer services,” said Thwala.
He said the city had obtained a court interdict last Wednesday ordering the workers to go back to work.
The city had deliberately avoided enforcing the order in the hope that the dispute would be resolved.
He said the city also took into account that on average each worker financially supported five other people.
”This means that 6 340 people would easily go hungry instantaneously. Terminating the services of these companies easily means that you terminate the employment of these workers,” he said.
Samwu was not immediately available for comment. — Sapa