Strike over as Tshwane and unions reach agreement
The City of Tshwane and unions Samwu and Imatu reached an agreement in the early hours on Friday morning.
This means the week-long strike, which brought the Pretoria CBD and service delivery to a standstill, is over.
Workers downed tools following the City’s decision to upgrade salaries of top executives by 18% dating back to 2017.
Samwu’s regional secretary Mpho Tladinyane says the City has agreed to reverse the 18% wage increase and the parties will also start a six months benchmarking exercise to look into the reworking of the salary scale.
"We believe that particular excise will then be able to ensure our members are able to get an extra amount in term of the mass movement," says Tladinyane.
Listen below:
The City and the union agreed on the following:
1.Once off ex gratia payment to workers as an equalisation
allowance:
Workers that earn less than R 20 000 per month will be paid a once-off payment of R 15 000;
Workers that earn R 20 001– R 30 000 per month will be
paid a once-off payment of R 10 000, and Workers that earn more than R 30 000 per month will be paid a once-off payment of R 7 000
2. In the following two months a dedicated task team will conduct a benchmarking exercise on the pay scale of other Metro Municipalities in order to develop a pay scale for the City of Tshwane.
3. The 18% salary increase that has been implemented for the Group and Divisional heads will be dismantled with immediate effect.
Government condemns vandalism, intimidation during Tshwane protests
The union is involved in a wage dispute with the city and is seeking an 18% wage hike, which it claims was granted to group heads but excluded lower-level employees. Tshwane bus drivers blocked the streets of the Pretoria CBD on Monday and Tuesday, leaving several main routes in the city centre gridlocked.