BCM pay deal with workers worth R456m

Compromise to prevent bankrupting metro

BUFFALO City Metro has allocated close to half a billion rand for salary increments and backpay for thousands of its employees in the current financial year.

The council on Wednesday approved the “standardisation of salaries” in the metro following prolonged negotiations with unions – the South African Municipal Workers Union (Samwu) and the Independent Municipal and Allied Trade Union (Imatu).

Although the R456-million commitment is less than Samwu initially demanded, the workers yesterday expressed happiness over the newly approved agreement.

The matter was discussed behind closed doors in council on Wednesday as a confidential matter. However the Daily Dispatch has seen the report which states that R3 000 will be paid to each BCM employee per month as an ongoing commitment from July 1 2017 to June 30 2018.

This will cost the metro R195-million for the financial year. The amount will be increased annually.

A commitment of R2 000 for the period of March 1 2017 to June 30 2017 will also be paid to each employee amounting to R44-million.

The biggest amount will go towards the employees’ backpay which will be a once-off payment of R40 000 each to those who joined BCM before 2014. Those who joined after 2014 will receive backpay based on the number of years they have been there.

In its consideration of the proposal the metro believed that funds could be sourced from:

● Vacant funded posts are expected to generate an approximate R44-million for the 2015 financial year and R100million annually from 1 July 2017 to 30 June 2018, except critical posts;

● General expenses to be reduced by an average of 8% on the 2016-17 adjustment budget, which is expected to generate about R60-million;

● Scarce skills allowance and additional responsibility allowances would need to undergo a policy review and;

● Overtime would have to be reduced by 50%.

Acting city manager Bob Naidoo’s report read that funding for the backpay would be sourced from existing cash resources but only temporarily. “However the funding of this needs to be done by future tariff impacts. It is envisaged that the return will be performed over a five-year period suggesting the operating budget would need to have a surplus of R40million per year over the next five years.

“The 2018-19 Medium-term revenue and expenditure framework budget must accommodate the requirements,” Naidoo said in the report.

Samwu BCM regional secretary Zolani Ndlela said: “We welcome the council resolution as Samwu although it is not what we initially wanted. We wanted to be on the same level as our colleagues who work in the Nelson Mandela Metro. We demanded that the backpay should be R114 000 but we reached a compromise because we also did not want to bankrupt the metro.”

Council chief whip Mzwandile Vaaiboom said the resolution would benefit the metro and workers.

The DA, COPE and ACDP also welcomed the resolution. —