The second day of the South African Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) strike in Johannesburg has had little impact on service delivery, city officials said on Tuesday.
City spokesperson Gabu Tugwana said the first day saw about 1 500 marchers — 50% of which were from the Johannesburg metro police department.
On the second day, he said, there were not more than 500 strikers.
”The greatest concern was for our call-centre employees who reported direct intimidation and threats,” said Tugwana.
Service delivery had not been impacted but the licensing department had been worst affected.
Tugwana said other municipal departments saw better attendance on Tuesday.
He reported that city attendance on Monday was between 70% and 90%, and it increased on Tuesday to between 76% and 96%.
Earlier in the day, Samwu refused to go back to the negotiating table, saying it was not informed of negotiations and only read about them in the newspapers.
The union’s spokesperson, Dumisani Langa, said: ”We will not meet with them until the city properly asks us to come to the table, and then we will be more than willing to go.”
Tugwana hit back saying the municipality had always been open to negotiations.
”The city has good intentions but the union has rejected our invitations to try and settle these matters. They have just walked away from us,” said Tugwana.
”I think these people must just grow up and conduct themselves in a proper manner because they are undermining the city and the taxpayers.”
The union, meanwhile, says it is now preparing for its court battle on Wednesday.
Samwu won the first round against the city at the Johannesburg Labour Court last week. which ruled that non-essential service workers and emergency service workers could strike.
The ruling followed a failed application by the city seeking an interdict to prevent work stoppage.
The court ruled that the city had not complied with the five-day notice period required by law.
Langa said if the union won the final round against the city, they would rope in other Gauteng municipalities to join in the strike.
”If the court says we can go ahead with a protected strike, we will serve all Gauteng municipalities with notices of a secondary strike,” said Langa.
Tugwana said the city also had a good case but did not want to predict the court outcome.
The union’s Eastern Cape members, meanwhile, on Tuesday resolved to support their Johannesburg colleagues.
”We demand a speedy resolution to the strike, in the form of the bosses agreeing to meet the Samwu demands,” said the union’s Eastern Cape provincial secretary, Siphiwo Ndunyana.
Ndunyana said members were prepared to assist their counterparts, even if it meant joining their secondary strike. — Sapa