Pretoria - The South African Municipal Workers Union (Samwu) is leading a tools down protest by employees of the City of Tshwane who demand a 36% increases in wages.
According to Samwu, the municipality's top strategic directors received 18% increases since 2017 at the exclusion of lower ranked municipal workers.
This mass action of thousands of workers from various departments is a demonstration that workers want the 18% increase times two for each year the top directors earned it.
Samwu's Tshwane deputy regional secretary, Valentine Matlala, said the City of Tshwane was upgraded in ranking meaning that it's workers could be paid more.
Samwu members working for the City of Tshwane block Madiba Street outside Tshwane House. Video: James Mahlokwane.
However, workers were left upset after the increases benefited only top shelf management directors.
This, he said, led to the union taking measures to see the City acknowledge it's fault.
Mayor Stevens Mokgalapa tried to speak to the crowd but they started talking back loudly when he didn't announce an 18% increase Matlala said was agreed upon in a meeting.
Mokgalapa said discussions were not yet concluded and everything was scehduled to be ironed out tomorrow in another meeting with stakeholders.
Mayor Stevens Mokgalapa (arm raised) attempts to address the crowd. Picture: James Mahlokwane.
This however, made the crowd unhappy and they ended up talking back until Mokgalapa went back into the Tshwane House building.
Workers asked that the mayor be called back as they were not satisfied by his address.
They said right now a lot of service delivery was not being delivered to residents of Tshwane as they resort to picket as a means to "fight for what is right."
This mass action caused a major traffic jam on Madiba Street and saw authorities redirect traffic to other streets.