DURBAN - Municipal workers who were on strike for more than two weeks are to get feedback from unions today on agreements reached with the eThekwini Municipality.
Workers from eThekwini’s water, sanitation and electricity departments downed tools two weeks ago, in protest against the upgrading of salaries for Umkhonto we Sizwe military veterans.
The strike led to refuse collection services being halted throughout the city and disruptions to the water supply in some areas.
Striking workers also went on the rampage in the Durban CBD last week, blocking roads with refuse, sand and rubble dumped from trucks.
A worker, Skhumbuzo Cele, died of a head injury while running from the police in the city centre.
A memorial service will be held for him today.
The SA Municipal Workers’ Union provincial secretary, Jay Cee Ncanana, confirmed that while the union was not completely satisfied with what the eThekwini management had to offer, they had agreed to end the strike.
“We are going to meet with the workers tomorrow morning (today) to give them feedback and report about the outcome of the negotiations.
“It will be up to them how they receive the report, so we cannot confirm whether they will go back to work or not,” said Ncanana.
He also said that there were still pending issues to be resolved.
“There will be a task team dealing with those outstanding issues because we were also not happy with some of them.
“We hope that the workers will accept what we will be reporting to them,” he said.
A joint statement released by the city and unions on Tuesday night said the dispute had been resolved at the Bargaining Council. The statement said that the parties had agreed that disciplinary processes for striking workers must immediately ensue and perpetrators be brought to book “without fear or favour”.
eThekwini mayor Zandile Gumede said she welcomed the agreement reached between the municipal employees and the city.
“We have been working on a speedy solution and involved the provincial government because of interruption of services,” said Gumede.
Municipal spokesperson Msawakhe Mayisela said the city had already resumed refuse collection services
and street sweeping in and around Durban.
Mayisela said normal collection schedules would resume.
However, he said there was a “huge backlog” that needed to be cleared.
“We are working hard to have everything back to normal,” said Mayisela.