Municipal workers in Grahamstown have been on strike since Monday morning, and residents have been advised not to put out refuse for collection until further notice.

PICS: Municipal workers trashing High Street
VIDEO: Municipal workers trashing High Street
AUDIO: SAMWU chairperson Wandile Bikitsha addressing muni workers

Thousands of municipal workers from various parts of the Eastern Cape, donning South African Municipal Workers Union (Samwu) t-shirts and caps, marched down Port Elizabeth’s Cape Road to the city hall on Monday, where they handed over a petition to Cacadu District mayor Mlungisi Mvoko.

Lindelwa Faltein, Samwu secretary in Makana, said that all the municipal workers in all departments except those which render essential services are taking part in the stayaway. Only workers in the departments of traffic, fire, electricity, water, sewerage and primary healthcare services are reporting for work.

“According to a service level agreement we signed with the municipality, refuse collection will be included in the essential services list only after 14 days,” she said.

The union is calling for a 15% wage increase while the South African Local Government Association is offering 11.5%.

The union is also calling for the implementation of a job evaluation system, known as wage curves, which is intended to be seperate from the ongoing wage negotiations because the simultaneous implementation of the two would result in only one month’s backpay, while workers want their pay to be backdated to 2007.

Makana spokesperson Thandy Matebese was not available for comment.

UPDATE:   03 August: Strike over, minimum wage now R3 850