Die is snaaks 🤣 Workers’ R4bn G20 blackmail
Joburg mayor Dada Morero diverts billions from city’s capital budget to avert protest at summit
The City of Johannesburg has quietly diverted R4bn from its already stretched capital expenditure budget to spare the city the embarrassment of aggrieved workers disrupting this week’s G20 summit in the full glare of international publicity.
Amid threats by South African Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) representatives to “close down all the freeways”, Joburg mayor Dada Morero and Samwu have reached a deal that will see Joburg’s municipal workers paid the same rate as those in other metros.
That should ensure Samwu co-operates to ensure a glitch-free summit, which Johannesburg has faced intense pressure to host competently after President Cyril Ramaphosa scolded the city on its lack of preparedness for the event earlier this year.
Though R4bn will be made available in terms of the agreement, the apparent payment gap is about R10bn in total.
The deal comes in the context of sporadic protests about the poor state of Joburg’s water services and widespread ratepayer and public unhappiness about the state of the city, which faces billions in infrastructure backlogs.
A mayoral committee meeting sat in October and discussed the diversion of funds from various entities such as Johannesburg Water and the Johannesburg Roads Agency into a pooled fund allegedly put in place to cater to the union’s demands.
If workers’ demands are not [resolved], there is no G20 that will take place. If the employer does not resolve this issue, on the eve of G20, comrades, we will close down all the freeways [and] all the entrances and exits. Nothing will move in Gauteng!
— Ester Mtatyana, Samwu’s Johannesburg regional chair
Samwu recently read Morero the riot act, saying its members would not allow the global conference to take place if the union’s demands were not met. During tense negotiations between the city’s management and union representatives, Samwu’s Johannesburg regional chair, Ester Mtatyana, publicly called for radical action by the union’s 30,000 members if the organisation’s demands were not met.
“If workers’ demands are not [resolved], there is no G20 that will take place. If the employer does not resolve this issue, on the eve of G20, comrades, we will close down all the freeways [and] all the entrances and exits. Nothing will move in Gauteng!” said Mtatyana in a widely circulated online video.
Her deputy, Lebogang Ndawo, echoed the chair’s remarks in a separate video, in which he called on members to picket the city.
The standoff with the municipality stems from a longstanding issue of salary disparities between Joburg workers and those in other metros. A benchmark process conducted in 2016 revealed Johannesburg local government workers were underpaid when compared with their counterparts in other cities.
Currently workers in Johannesburg are being paid at grade 8 instead of grade 10, which is the remuneration level of their Tshwane counterparts. The union has decried the city’s “partial and slow implementation” of the salary adjustments, allegedly because of financial constraints affecting the cash-strapped city.
The Sunday Times has seen a confidential document detailing the agreement, which has been reached on the eve of the summit this week. The deal was finalised on Friday.
According to the settlement offer, “The city is to commit to [the] payment of a minimum of R1.2bn, up to a maximum of R2bn, by March 2026. [The city will also] commit to [the] payment of a minimum of R5bn, up to a maximum of R6bn, by July 2026. [The city will further] commit to [the] payment of R4.1bn by July 2027.”
“This offer is subject to clause 6 of the CCMA-mediated collective settlement agreement [made in terms of the Public Finance Act (PFA)], which provides that the implementation must be subject to the principles of sustainability and affordability. It is a firm position that we may not deviate from any part of the PFA, as doing so would fundamentally [alter] the nature of the negotiations and the facilitations processes established under this agreement.”
The settlement offer letter also says: “The city remains committed to fulfilling its obligations under [the] PFA, guided by the principles of affordability and sustainability outlined in clause 6 of the agreement. These principles ensure that implementation considers socioeconomic factors, the financial stability of the city and its entities, and the long-term economic implications for all stakeholders.”
According to a union insider, this move was long overdue. “It’s so unfortunate that we had to threaten to embarrass the city over genuine worker issues we have raised for years. But if [city officials] keep their word, workers will finally appreciate being compensated [fairly] for all the hard work and effort they put in on a daily [basis] to make the city work.”
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