Strike suspended, some municipal workers back on job

Gugu Mbonambi and Leanne Jansen

MUNICIPAL services in eThekwini and elsewhere in KwaZulu-Natal are expected to gradually return to normal this week after the South African Municipal Workers’ Union executive announced at the weekend that a nationwide strike had been temporarily suspended.

Samwu leaders in KwaZulu-Natal are expected to consult union members today.

Both Samwu and the Independent Municipal and Allied Trade Union (Imatu) have been on strike for the past fortnight.

Samwu’s KwaZulu-Natal secretary, Jaycee Ncanana, said the union’s national executive committee resolved on Saturday that all its members should return to work until “further notice”.

“Salga (the SA Local Government Organisation) is very stubborn, so we told our members to return to work while we try to find other means of fighting to get better wages. All municipal services will soon return to normal, but we will not accept 6.08 percent (offered by Salga)” he said.

The union had decreased its demand from 18 percent to 10 percent “in order to meet the employer half way”, Ncanana said.

Samwu’s provincial chairman John Dlamini yesterday said that while Ncanana was “correct in principle”, the suspension was subject to debate and engagement with union members.

This was in line with Samwu’s “bottom up approach”.

A final decision would be announced today, Dlamini said.

Imatu president Stanley Khoza said its members were still on strike until further notice.

Intimidation

At the weekend, Durban Solid Waste workers started collecting refuse in residential areas and in central Durban.

Following the shooting and hospitalisation of a union member last Wednesday, Samwu members in Msunduzi suspended picketing action, and instead held a stay-away on Friday.

Midlands police spokeswoman Joey Jeevan said that while police continued to investigate the circumstances surrounding the shooting, no cases of intimidation or vandalism related to strike action had been reported over the weekend.

Meanwhile, the three-day South African Local Government Association national conference begins in Durban today. 8 P6,7