Strike paralyses Enoch Mgijima services
WORKERS in the Enoch Mgijima local municipality have brought service delivery to a standstill after the recently amalgamated local authority failed to implement a decision on backpay and salary adjustments taken in the bargaining council.
The strike, which started on August 1, led to service delivery disruptions in Mlungisi and Ezibeleni locations near Komani.
Electricity in Ezibeleni has been on and off since the strike and people are struggling to get assistance from the municipality.
Samwu secretary Thabo Ngwane said the reason for the strike was the municipality’s delay in implementing the decisions of the bargaining council, which include the adjustment of task grades.
He said workers were now demanding that casual workers be made permanent and that all municipal emp salaries be paid according to the category of the municipality.
The Enoch Mgijima municipality was formed by the merger of Tsolwana, Lukhanji and Inkwanca municipalities.
Salary grades of workers doing the same job were different because the three municipalities were in different categories as determined by the income and population they served.
This became a problem when the three local authorities were merged as the administration had to look into adjusting the salaries of those who were paid less.
On June 7 this year, the workers and the municipality reached a settlement on the matter. Both parties resolved that those employees who had already moved by a task grade would not benefit from the payment of the difference between the tasks grades on implementation of the 12 months backpay.
Employees who moved by one task grade would be remunerated the difference of the task grade, taking into consideration the backpay they had already received. But this has yet to be implemented. Last year, employees at Lukhanji downed tools calling for the benchmarking of salaries.
At the time, former Lukhanji municipal manager Nolwandle Gqiba sought legal opinion from Wheeldon, Rushmere and Cole on the matter.
In a letter addressed to Gqiba on July 29 last year, Wheeldon, Rushmere and Cole’s Brin Brody said their firm’s view was that salaries should not be adjusted as the benchmarking exercise had not been finalised or approved by South Africa Local Government Association (Salga).
“To pay any sums of money contrary to the Salga directive would amount to fruitless expenditure and will be in breach of the municipal finance management Act,” he said.
In July last year, Salga’s provincial executive officer Gcinikhaya Mpumza advised the municipality to refrain from implementing any benchmarking of salaries and wait for the finalisation of the amalgamation.
Municipal spokesman Fundile Feketshana said the municipality sought to resolve the matter amicably, but could not divulge the details while engagements are still going on. — DDC