Members of the South African Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) downed tools in Limpopo on Friday, the union said.
Samwu said the protesters were gathering at SABC Park in Polokwane and would march to the offices of the provincial minister of local government later on Friday.
The protesters would then march to the South African Local Government Association.
Protesters were demanding an end to all forms of privatisation, outsourcing and labour brokers.
”These have been proven to benefit a few rich and often corrupt contractors only, while impoverishing workers,” said the union.
Employers also needed to take urgent action to increase workplace safety in accordance with occupational health and safety legislation.
Health services must also stop being transferred from local government to provinces, said the union.
”Provincial health departments are incompetent at managing healthcare,” Samwu said. The union also called for action to be taken to stop a R1,2-million contract the Ekurhuleni municipality was to sign.
The three-month contract was for a company to use municipal premises to receive job applications and make shortlists.
”This job is an unsophisticated one that could be done for a fraction of the cost by temporary admin workers.”
Samwu said the contract was part of the municipality’s privatisation of recruitment of new workers.
The union said it had referred the dispute to the bargaining council because it believed the municipality had defied its own policy — which says outside service providers can only be appointed by consensus. — Sapa