The head of the South African Municipal Workers' Union (Samwu) in Makana has condemned the actions of people who burned rubbish in Church Square but has said that Grahamstonians had trashed the town and not Samwu members.
The head of the South African Municipal Workers' Union (Samwu) in Makana has condemned the actions of people who burned rubbish in Church Square but has said that Grahamstonians had trashed the town and not Samwu members.
As wage talks remain deadlocked this week, strike action intensified in Grahamstown on 23 August with some strikers burning piles of trash on the road, setting a rubbish bin on fire and vandalising public property.
Local Samwu leader Wandile Bikitsha said said the union had condemned such action and that this contradicted Cosatu’s principle of nation-building. He distanced Samwu members from the vandalism, saying, “It was members of the public doing that and not Samwu.”
The wage dispute between Samwu and the South African Local Government Association (Salga) is heading for a third week.
The only news to come out of the negotiations that took place on Wednesday between the two parties is that Samwu has reduced its demand for an 18% salary increase to 10%.
General-secretary Mthandeki Nhlapho told SABC radio that this concession would not affect their demand for a R2 000 across-the-board payment.
According to News 24, Nhlapho said Salga was sticking to its original offer of 6%.
Bikitsha told Grocott’s Mail, “The negotiations are still ongoing but the unions have moved in a progressive way. This is a compromise move, to shift from 18 to 10 percent.”
He said if Salga was not willing to accept their revised offer, Samwu might revert to their initial 18% demand.
“It also depends on the other party, Salga, how committed they are to concluding the negotiations,” he said.
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