theherald

RESIDENTS around the country were today (April 19) waiting for word on whether a deal had been struck to end the week-long municipal workers’ strike.

Spokesmen for the SA Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) and the SA Local Government Association (Salga) were not immediately available to discuss the outcome of a meeting between the two in Midrand yesterday.

During that meeting Samwu spokesman Tahir Sema said Salga had conceded to most of their demands but there were just a few “sticky issues” outstanding.

They had been meeting since Wednesday to resolve the dispute.

Samwu had vowed to continue the strike until it was completely satisfied its demands had been met, even though workers would not be paid for the duration of the strike.

The demands included giving workers market-related salaries, which Salga had said would take it over the budget allocated by the Treasury.

Samwu said not only would this raise the salaries of lower and middle income workers, but it would also level senior council officials’ salaries and perks which it said were too high.

Samwu also wanted councils to stop outsourcing legal consultants for labour disputes.

These measures, which they had been trying to introduce for seven years, would go some way to addressing concerns over corruption in councils, which had been cited as a reason for a wave of service delivery protests, Samwu said.

The strike had affected not only refuse removal, which had left many city centres heavily littered as the country prepares to host international visitors for the Soccer World Cup, but had impacted on almost all council services including primary health care, municipal bus services and burials. – Sapa