Unions warn against avoiding pay raises

TRADE unions representing the country’s more than 260 000 municipal workers have warned the government against using the Covid-19 pandemic to avoid increasing salaries by 6.25% next month.

Cosatu affiliate the SA Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) said it was shocked by the move to invoke a clause of the 2018 agreement reached at the SA Local Government Bargaining Council (SALGBC) that allows municipalities to apply for an exemption if they are unable to honour it.

Samwu said a number of municipalities were processing their 2020-21 budgets and had already approved the salary increases.

“We do not expect any municipality to fall into this trap of pitting workers against their employers. Municipal workers will not sit idle when their conditions of service are illegally tampered with,” the union cautioned.

The Independent Municipal and Allied Trade Union (Imatu) indicated that the parties to the SALGBC agreement would wait for Finance Minister Tito Mboweni to table his adjustment budget on Wednesday.

The union said a “very small number of individual municipalities” had submitted applications for exemptions but would actively oppose them at the bargaining council.

Imatu said the impact of Covid-19 on municipal finances was based on exaggerations.

The country’s 257 municipalities are expected to increase their more than 260 000 employees’ salaries by 6.25% from July 1.