Tshwane metro to go to court to challenge ruling to increase its workers’ wages
The City of Tshwane said on Monday it is going to the labour court to challenge a decision by the SA Local Government Bargaining Council (SALGBC) which called on the cashstrapped metro to abide by the multiterm wage deal that the city said was unaffordable.
The capital city applied to the SALGBC to be exempted from implementing the last leg of a three-year pay deal reached in the council in 2021. In September, however, the SALGBC, a platform for employer and workers to agree on wages and other conditions of employment, dismissed the exemption application.
In a 12-page arbitration award (ruling), dated September 10, SALGBC senior commissioner Eleanor Hambidge directed Tshwane to comply with the wage deal with “immediate effect”.
This despite the city having argued the increases were unaffordable as the city’s financial position is “exceptionally fragile”, spurring the council to embark on an extensive cost-cutting exercise by reducing budgets by 30% across departments.
Tshwane employees, who are members of the SA Municipal Workers Union (Samwu), had been on strike since July 26, demanding that the metro implement the 5.4% wage increase, the last leg of a threeyear wage agreement signed in the SALGBC in 2021. Inflation as measured by the consumer price index stood at 5.9% in October, up from 5.4% in September.
The Tshwane metro fired more than 120 workers for taking part in what the labour court said was illegal action. The unlawful strike resulted in city infrastructure being vandalised and set on fire.
In some cases, nonstriking employees were threatened and prevented from reporting to work or carrying out their duties, the city has said. The protracted strike prompted the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA), the country’s dispute resolution body, to invoke a section 150 public interest intervention.
A week ago, CCMA director Cameron Morajane said: “Significant progress has been made in an attempt to resolve the dispute. The parties [City of Tshwane, Samwu and Imatu] have reported that workers returned to work and operations returned to normal.” Tshwane chief of staff Jordan Griffiths told Business Day on Monday that striking employees have been back on duty “for some weeks now”. He said the wage increases “are not being paid”.
“The city is going to the labour court to challenge the decision by the bargaining council,” said Griffiths.
Tshwane executive mayor Cilliers Brink has said the metro cannot afford a salary increase this year as the city’s R46.9bn budget for the 2023/24 financial year was underfunded by at least R3bn. In her ruling, however, Hambidge said that Samwu raised in its submission that the metro made a provision for salary increases in 2023/24.
She said that no reference was made to the actual budget provision which is R12.6bn, “and when compared to the actual expenditure for 2022/23 in an amount of R11.4bn, after the leave adjustment, there is a difference of R1.1bn, and accordingly it is fair to both the applicant/employer and the employees to conclude that sufficient provision has been made in the 2023/24 budget to cover the increase in an amount of R602m”.
“The applicant can no longer rely on the principle of legality when it is my finding that adequate provision has been made for the increase in the 2023/24 budget.
“I am further persuaded to decline this exemption application, as granting such has the potential to undermine centralised collective bargaining in this sector,” Hambidge ruled.