SAMWU ANNOUNCES PROTECTED STRIKE ACTION AT UMHLATHUZE LOCAL MUNICIPALITY

June 17, 2025 adminPress

17 June 2025

The South African Municipal Workers Union (SAMWU), on behalf of its members and employees at Umhlathuze Local Municipality, today announced the commencement of protected strike action. This decision follows the Municipality’s continued failure to address critical concerns which the Union has been raising without a response that addresses these issues.

Despite repeated attempts to bring these issues to the Employer’s attention, they remain unresolved. SAMWU has exhausted all available avenues for resolution and has been compelled to take this decisive action to defend workers’ rights as the last course of action.

The protected strike action, commencing today, June 17, 2025, stems from a comprehensive list of grievances, including but not limited to:

• Unfair Labour Practices: Persistent unfair dismissals and a pattern of victimization against union-affiliated employees, including instances of “double parking” where two employees are paid for the same post due to unfair suspensions, which SAMWU describes as corruption.

• Misuse of Ratepayers’ Funds: The continued and opposed use of private attorneys for internal disciplinary matters, despite the presence of an adequately staffed internal Labour Relations department.

• Gross Negligence in Workplace Safety and Security: A blatant disregard for employee well-being, evidenced by the failure to implement effective safety measures after a shooting incident, and a lack of strong security policies, gated access, security drills, and 24/7 surveillance in municipal offices and depots.

• Non-Compliance with Employment Equity and Disability Inclusion: Systemic exclusion of persons with disabilities and a severe lack of their representation, with a demand for urgent compliance with the mandatory 2% disability employment quota.

• Unsafe Working Conditions: Widespread violations of the Occupational Health and Safety Act, including exposure to hazardous environments, dilapidated municipal buildings, and a lack of basic facilities like ablution amenities at workstations.

• Unfair Recruitment Practices: The appointment of temporary employees without the requisite qualifications or experience to senior management positions, undermining fairness and meritocracy.

• Exploitation of EPWP Employees: A demand for the permanent absorption of EPWP workers who have been on temporary contracts for over five years, demonstrating the Municipality’s ongoing need for their services.

• Unequal Remuneration: The failure to implement Grade 6 compensation for all employees, despite the Municipality falling under Category 6, leading to inequitable treatment where some employees remain at Grade 5.

• Lack of Danger Allowance: The omission of danger allowance for Essential Services Employees, undermining the risks they face daily.

• Inadequate Tools of Trade: A demand for the immediate provision of essential tools, including functional computers, laptops, and a roadworthy fleet.

• External Temporary Appointments in Senior Management: The immediate removal of external temporary appointees in senior management positions who demoralize qualified internal staff and undermine fair recruitment.

• Racism within Electricity and Energy Services: An urgent need to address racial inequity, specifically the rehiring of White retired employees as temporary staff, a practice not extended to other racial backgrounds.

• Non-Compliance with PPE Policy: Insistence on the full implementation of the Council-approved PPE policy to ensure all employees have appropriate personal protective equipment.

• Dilapidated Municipal Buildings: A demand for urgent refurbishment and proper fencing of all municipal buildings to ensure a safe and dignified working environment.

• Non-Payment of Overtime: The ongoing failure to pay overtime, particularly by less qualified senior managers, which constitutes gross negligence.

• Lack of Accountability for Senior Managers: A call for comprehensive skills and lifestyle audits of all senior managers to ensure transparency and accountability.

• Unlawful Cost Containment Measures: A demand to immediately halt current unlawful cost containment practices.

• Unfilled Vacancies: An urgent call to fill all fully funded vacant positions to ensure service delivery is not compromised.

As part of the strike action, the Union will be delivering the memorandum of demands to the municipality and will be demanding a response by latest Friday, June 20, 2025. SAMWU had requested a formal response to these demands by Friday, June 20, 2025, before 16h00. Should the municipality fail to respond or provide an unsatisfactory response, SAMWU will be left with no option but to intensify the action.

As a Union, we understand the inconvenience that comes with a strike action, especially towards residents. We are, however, forced as a union to take this course of action as a last resort, following the failure by the municipality to address these issues. We need to stress that before we are municipal workers, we are community members, and as such, we are as a Union interested in seeing municipalities that work. This fight is not just a fight for workers, but a fight for services, and as such, residents should join us in this noble course.

Issued by SAMWU Shonamalanga Region
Zandile Gumede
Regional Secretary
081 284 2591

Zethu Fakude
Deputy Regional Secretary
0722 52 8910