The City of Tshwane has announced that it will launch an appeal after the SA Local Government Bargaining Council (SALGBC) dismissed a "frivolous" application by the troubled municipality to be exempted from implementing a wage deal reached in the Council on September 15, 2021 as part of a three-year salary and wage agreement.
Employees in Tshwane have been striking for more than a month in demand of a 5.4% pay increase, while the metro has pleaded bankruptcy. The municipality sought an exemption for proposed pay increases that were heard by senior commissioner Eleanor Hambidge earlier this month.
On Monday, a spokesperson for the City of Tshwane, Selby Bokaba said the metro was "disappointed" by the council’s ruling.
"Today, the South African Local Government Bargaining Council provided their ruling on the city’s exemption application concerning the salary interests. The city notes that the SALGBC has denied the application for exemption. This is disappointing, as the city has presented solid arguments supported by evidence as to why these increases are unaffordable," said Bokaba.
"The city’s financial position is exceptionally fragile, and, as such, we embarked on an extensive cost-cutting exercise by reducing budgets by 30% across departments. It is worth noting that the panellist (at the Council) acknowledges the city’s liquidity challenges but, in the same vein, ordered the city to honour the collective agreement," he said.
Bokaba said that having acknowledged Tshwane’s fragile financial status, it was "shocking" for the Council to dismiss the city’s exemption application.
"This ruling clearly provides grounds for review. The city will immediately begin the requisite work to approach the Labour Court on an urgent basis to review this ruling," said Bokaba.
On the other hand, the South African Municipal Workers’ Union has welcomed the SALGBC ruling, adding that Tshwane’s application was frivolous. The union called on Tshwane to "immediately" pay the workers’ salary increases.
"Samwu notes and welcomes the decision by the South African Local Government Bargaining Council to dismiss the frivolous exemption application by the City of Tshwane to be exempted from paying workers their salaries with 5.4% salary increases effective July 1, 2023.
"In 2021, parties in the SALGBC concluded a three-year salary and wage collective agreement that 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," said Mpho Tladinyane, Samwu Gauteng provincial secretary.
"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," Tladinyane said.
Samwu insists Tshwane has the money to fund the salary increases, "but has taken a political decision to deliberately deny workers their salaries for the second time in three years".
"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 (Cilliers Brink) 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 July 1, 2021," said Tladinyane.
IOL