SAMWU in the City of Johannesburg welcomes Labour Court Judgement on COJ130

August 21, 2023 adminPress

22 April 2022

The South African Municipal Workers Union (SAMWU) in the Johannesburg region welcomes today’s Johannesburg Labour Court outcome in which Judge Connie Prinsloo ruled in favour of the 130 young, black and qualified professionals whose employment the City wanted to unilaterally terminate based on a 25th February council resolution.

In her judgement, Judge Prinsloo ruled that the DA-led city’s government is restricted from implementing the council resolution taken on the 25th of February, prohibits it from implementing the management directive issued on 09 March 2022 and ordered the City to pay the applicant’s costs, which include two counsel.

“We are pleased that a competent court of law has once again ruled against DA’s led government racist and narcissistic conduct. This ruling comes as no surprise to us, as the union representing the affected employees, we’ve always maintained that decision to convert our members from contract to permanent was in line and within the confines of the country’s constitution and labour laws.” Said Thobani Nkosi, Regional Secretary of SAMWU Johannesburg

Nkosi said as early as December 2021, a few weeks after the DA-led government took office, the city started experiencing shortcomings in how the political executive city was dealing with labour relations matters, at best expedient and at worst mischievous.

“These shortcomings became clear in how the city handled the COJ130 matter. Furthermore, these shortcomings included cancellation of medical aids without employees’ concern, demanding tools of the trade and sending heavily armed Johannesburg Metropolitan Police (JMPD) to the private residence of our members,” Nkosi elaborated.

SAMWU called on the DA-led city’s government to respect the constitution, Labour Relations Act as amended, Basic Conditions of Employment Act as amended and other workplace-related laws.

“It is extremely disturbing to observe how the DA has wilfully chosen to fight its political battles with its opponents through vulnerable workers, the majority of whom are not even politically aligned.
It will also be beneficial to the DA to stop wasting resources by using the services of several law firms when the opinion obtained doesn’t support their agenda. The City itself has an entire Legal and Contracts department staffed by experienced legal advisors with institutional memory.

Importantly, the City must not seek to create parallel labour forums where it feels the current stakeholders will not coddle their unlawful demands,” Nkosi said in conclusion.

End

For enquiries, please contact

Thobani Nkosi
SAMWU JHB Regional Secretary
066 290 2134