Pretoria - After two days of protests which resulted in gridlocked traffic and chaos in the city of Tshwane's central business district, disgruntled South African Municipal Workers Union (Samwu) members and the council are due to hold discussions over salary increases at the local government bargaining council.
Stick-wielding workers went on the rampage over the last two days, upending trash bins onto roads and using municipal buses and trucks to block some street intersections to press for an 18 percent salary increase.
Trash littered busy roads such as Madiba, Thabo Sehume, Lillian Ngoyi and Francis Baard and foul smell from decomposed garbage permeated the air, raising fears of a disease outbreak.
Samwu wants a wage hike in line with the municipality's ranking effected by the department of co-operative governance and traditional affairs in 2017.
Mayoral spokeswoman Omogolo Taunyane confirmed the city would enter into talks with the union at the bargaining council.
"The strike undermines the rule of law, especially after the city obtained an interdict against the action," she said of the last two days of chaos.
Samwu regional secretary Mpho Tladinyane said a late-night meeting with the city council had not yielded results, and the union looked forward to airing its views at the bargaining council.
Tladinyane said the bargaining council would likely issue an order allowing Samwu to strike should the two parties reach a stalemate.