Pretoria – The City of Tshwane on Thursday said it was continuing to clamp down on employees who are participating in an unlawful and unprotected strike and had issued 55 more dismissal letters.
The stern action by the City brings the total number of employees who have been dismissed to 93 in a space of two weeks.
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“More dismissal letters are in the process of being issued to the striking employees,” said the City.
The City said the breakdown of the dismissed employees was as follows:
- 3 from Finance Department
- 14 from Region 4
- 17 from Region 3
- 9 from Region 2
- 12 from Energy & Electricity Department
Members of the South African Municipal Workers Union (SAMWU) downed tools to press for wage hikes, but the City said there was no money and insists “zero percent increases” will apply.
“The strike action has now entered the third week, despite the Labour Court having granted the city an interim interdict against the strike and declaring it to be unlawful and unprotected on 28 July 2023,” the City said.
“The court interdict has directed the striking employees to stop intimidating their co-workers and not to damage the Citys property and any public or private property.
‘When it became clear that the striking employees were in contempt of court, the City approached the Labour Court again on an urgent basis last Friday for the enforcement of the interim interdict.”
On Monday, (7 August 2023), the judge refused to grant the City the contempt order, and instead asked it to identify the striking employees, together with the union leaders.
On Thursday, the City said it has now identified the individuals behind the strike and is finalising its court application, which is likely to be filed tomorrow.
“The striking employees, who are affiliated to labour trade union SAMWU, were given three ultimatums by the city manager to return to work, but they disregarded his directives,” said the City.
