SAMWU rejects SALGA’s ridiculous Wage and Salary Offer
29 April 2015
The South African Municipal Workers’ Union (SAMWU) has rejected the latest wages and salary presented by SALGA at the SALGBC in the 2nd round of negotiations which concluded on the 23rd April 2015. SALGA had revised its previous offer of 4.4% increase to 5.4%. We reject this ridiculous offer as it is still way below our demands, there has been no real movement on the part of SALGA.
SALGA has not shown commitment to negotiate in good faith on these negotiations, instead they have been dragging their feet to the negotiating table.
We want to ensure that a new agreement is reached before the current main collective agreement lapses, however this can only be done if there is commitment from both sides of the table.
It seems as though SALGA is only interested in ensuring that unions commit to the signing of the Service Charter while neglecting bread and butter issues of our members.
Our mandate is for a single year agreement, yet SALGA continues to want to ensure that workers are tired to a 3 year agreement which has no real gains or benefits for them. The employer has further proposed that the minimum wage in the sector be R5925 which we believe is way too little to address the dire financial strain that municipal workers continue to find themselves in, a situation which is not of their own making.
SALGA has also not moved on our demand of an across the board housing allowance for all municipal employees and insists on giving housing allowance to those who can produce evidence that they have current bond with a financial institution.
Our argument is that housing allowance should be extended to all employees as a result of the slave wages that SALGA gives to its employees.
What bond would an employee with a salary of R5621 get?
This argument by SALGA also disadvantages employees who are unable to get financial assistance as a result of their poor credit profiles.
Undoubtedly SALGA is a horrible employer, an employer that does not value or appreciate its employees. Municipal workers are starving while SALGA bosses continue to be highly overpaid, its principals have just recently received an increase of over R60 000 an amount which is more than the annual salary of municipal workers.
SALGA cannot also justify the highly inflated annual salary of R3.8 million that its CEO Xolile George receives, a salary which he clearly does not deserve given the fact that SALGA principals have failed to stabilise the country’s municipalities.
The third round of negotiations will be held on the 18th and 19th May, we urge SALGA to come negotiate with us in good faith and show commitment that they want an agreement reached before the current main collective agreement expires.
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SAMWU Concerned by Treasury’s Interference in Salary and Wage Negotiations
29 April 2015
The South African Municipal Workers’ Union (SAMWU) has noted with concern the interference by National Treasury in the current wage negotiations between the Public Administration and the public sector unions including negotiations between SALGA and unions in local government.
We were shocked when we learned through a leaked circular issued by National Treasury late last year when the department issued an instruction to municipalities to budget a 5.8% increase for salary increases this was besides the fact that inflation at the time was forecasted to reach 6.2% by the end of 2015. It is for this reason that we were not surprised at the ridiculous offer of 5.4% which has been recently made by SALGA in our own negotiations. We would therefore not be surprised if the final offer from SALGA would be 5.8% (the same percentile increase offered to public sector unions) as per the instruction in the leaked circular.
We are convinced that National Treasury is confusing its role to that of our members’ employer. For the record, municipal workers are not employed by Treasury but municipalities. It would therefore be incorrect and illegal for Treasury to dictate to parties in the bargaining council. All parties should be free to submit their demands and bargain freely without the dictatorial interference by National Treasury.
We have on numerous occasions said that the financial strain that municipalities find themselves in is of Treasury’s own doing as a result of its unfair allocation of the Division of Revenue. We therefore urge Treasury to desist from any further interference in our negotiations as this will be seen as a direct provocation to municipal workers and all those employed in the public service.
We pledge our support to our sister unions affiliated to COSATU currently in their own negotiations, a month after their collective agreement had lapsed. We urge them to be resilient and militant in ensuring that their members’ demands are met and to further reject the interference by National Treasury.
Statements issued by Papikie Mohale, National Media Officer, South African Municipal Workers’ Union (SAMWU), April 29 2915
