The Independent Municipal and Allied Trade Union (Imatu) is at loggerheads with the City of Tshwane, accusing the metro of ceasing payments of post-retirement medical aid to former employees.
Regional union manager Rudy de Bryun said he was appalled at the City’s refusal to contribute towards the pensioners’ medical aid.
He said the refusal was a direct attack on the wellbeing of employees who spent their lives serving the municipality.
In December last year, the union took up the matter with the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, to have the City’s decision set aside. The court ruled that the City must contribute towards their medical aid.
City spokesperson Lindela Mashigo said the municipality had filed an application for leave to appeal against the judgment. “The City is not prepared to discuss the merits of the matter and any related facts as we have filed an application for leave to appeal, and thus the matter has not been finalised yet. The process of appeal is still ongoing.”
De Bryun said the union was first alerted to this serious problem when pensioners stopped receiving employer post-retirement medical aid contributions.
He said employees close to retirement were advised that medical aid contributions from the City would cease once they went on retirement.
“The issue of post-retirement medical aid is a complex problem affecting a large number of local government employees. Due to varying conditions of service pre-dating the Local Government Transition Act and subsequent national collective agreements, Imatu has had to support pensioners on a case-by-case basis,” he said.