/ 17 August 2011

Samwu plans to bring JHB to a standstill

Municipal workers will bring the Johannesburg city centre to a standstill this week, the South African Municipal Workers’ Union said on Wednesday.

“We expect the town to be standing still; we will fill Simmonds from the top,” Gauteng provincial secretary Ntsikelelo Klaas told journalists in Johannesburg.

Municipal workers downed tools on Monday demanding an 18% pay rise, with employers, the South African Local Government Association, offering 6.08%.

Klaas disputed reports that workers in the province had boycotted the strike over allegations of corruption and were at work across the province.

“Members may be at work but they are not working,” he said.

Members are out
However, the City of Johannesburg reported that 90% of its employees were working, with a similar situation in Tshwane.

“In Tshwane members are out, in Ekurhuleni members are out, in Vaal members are out,” Klaas said.

He said it was only in Johannesburg where the strike was slow to gain momentum.

“It might be slow in Johannesburg but in Gauteng as a whole, our members are out on strike.”

He urged members not to be diverted and said the issues of corruption within the union had to be dealt with separately.

Workers are marching for their wage demands and also in protest against the Municipal Amendment Bill, which they have dubbed the Cadres Bill. — Sapa