Rand Water workers call off strike over bonus
Company withdraws nonpayment notice after court ruling
The Labour Court in Braamfontein, Johannesburg, has ordered the SA Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) to call off its strike and Rand Water to withdraw its notice of nonpayment of bonuses pending the outcome of their Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration hearing.
In a judgment released yesterday at the Labour Court, both parties agreed to the order of the court.
“The applicant [Rand Water] withdraws its notice of nonpayment of incentive bonuses pending the outcome of the conciliation proceedings which is scheduled for conciliation on 28 April 2021 before the Commission for Conciliation Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA).
“The first respondent [Samwu] withdraws its notice of strike action dated 16 April 2021. There is no order as to costs,” read the order.
Rand Water management applied for an interdict at the Labour Court against the strike, citing that it is not within the requirements of a protected strike action.
Deputy provincial secretary of Samwu, Mamorena Madisha, thanked the workers for their support. “I have no words to thank you. We are going to fight. It is not yet over. We are preparing for the 28th of April,” Madisha said.
Madisha said the strike has been called off and the workers will report for duty today.
Earlier yesterday morning, a group of Samwu members and Rand Water workers were picketing outside the water utility’s head offices in Glenvista, south of Johannesburg, demanding to be paid their incentive bonuses.
About 60 workers dressed in red T-shirts and carrying placards gathered outside Rand Water offices, demanding that it pays them their incentive bonus which they said they have been getting for the past 17 years without fail.
Rand Water, which has more than 3,800 workers at its sites, supplies water to municipalities and industries in Gauteng, North West, Mpumalanga and the Free State.