Johannesburg – The South African Local Government Bargaining Council (SALGBC) has dismissed the application by the City of Tshwane to be exempted from paying salary increases to its employees.
The South African Municipal Workers’ Union (SAMWU) on Monday said it “welcomes the decision by SALGBC to dismiss the frivolous exemption application by the City of Tshwane to be exempted from paying workers their 5.4% salary increases effective from 1 July 2023”.
SAMWU said in 2021, parties in the SALGBC concluded a three-year salary and wage collective agreement, which would have seen municipal workers in the country’s 257 municipalities receive 3.5%, 4.9%, and 5.4% salary and wage increases in 2021, 2022, and 2023 respectively.
“Instead of implementing the first leg of the agreement in 2021, the City of Tshwane applied to be exempted from the agreement and had their application dismissed,” said the union.
“This year, municipal workers were supposed to receive a 5.4% salary and wage increase effective from 1 July.
“Instead of implementing the agreement, the City played delaying tactics and finally applied to be exempted from the collective agreement in August, a month after the increases were supposed to be implemented.”
SAMWU said during the exemption hearing, which was heard before a Senior Commissioner under the auspices of the SALGBC in early September, the City failed to prove that it does not have the resources needed to fund the salary increases.
“It has always been SAMWU’s contention that the City does have the money for these increases, but has taken a political decision to deliberately deny workers their salaries for a second time in three years,” said the union.
“As SAMWU, we welcome the ruling of the SALGBC as a vindication to the calls and arguments that have been made by the Union that the City does have the resources to pay workers their increases.
“Instead, the City had taken a decision to deliberately deny workers as a way to undermine collective bargaining and dismantle workers’ unity within the City.”
The union said Tshwane Mayor Cilliers Brink had on “numerous occasions pleaded poverty on behalf of the City”, insisting that it was one of the reasons why Tshwane would not be honouring a contractually binding agreement with employees.
“The Mayor went as far as saying that he and his team will argue their case before the SALGBC,” the union said.
“According to the Commissioner, the City failed to prove its financial difficulties which they claimed.
“She further pointed to the fact that the City’s finances have been improving since the last financial year.
“Importantly, the City had budgeted just over R12 billion for staff remuneration but did end up with a surplus of just over R1.1 billion.
“Taking this into consideration, the Commissioner dismissed the application by the City and ordered the City to comply with the 2021 and wage collective agreement.”
The union added: “As SAMWU, we implore the City and its management to do the right thing and comply with the collective agreement and the SALGBC ruling.
“The Mayor has on numerous occasions indicated that his government respects collective bargaining.
“If this is indeed the case, the Mayor will immediately instruct the administration to process salary increases for municipal workers in Tshwane effective from 1 July 2021.”
Municipal workers in Tshwane have in the last three years been denied salary and wage increases, which were agreed to in the SALGBC twice.
“The blatant refusal to pay these increases has compounded the economic pressure that workers are experiencing. These workers are unable to keep up with the cost of living,” said SAMWU.
“If Councillor Brink and his administration really respect collective bargaining and care for the wellbeing of employees, the ruling of the SALGBC and the collective agreement will be implemented with immediate effect.
“The City was given an opportunity to make its case and it has failed to convince the commissioner that they are indeed facing financial difficulties which prevent them from paying the increases.
“As SAMWU, we will be closely monitoring the developments in Tshwane.”
The union’s leadership thanked its members for the patience they have shown and for allowing the union to defend them during this process.
”We know that the process has had a serious financial strain on municipal workers. We are however pleased that as we said when this process began, workers will emerge out victorious.”
Mayor Brink said the City of Tshwane will approach the Labour Court to review the decision.
