On the march to the Metro Centre

City services SOME City services may be affected by the strike. Pikitup Pikitup, the City's waste management agency, has said some of its depots and areas may be affected. It has advised Joburgers that should there be any disruption, they should keep their rubbish on their premises until the next scheduled collection. The agency will, however, assign additional staff to collect rubbish from restaurants and all the City's clinics and hospitals. Pikitup's garden sites will be open, but only for garden waste and not for general domestic refuse, according to a City press release. The five landfill sites will operate with skeleton staff. These are: Goudkoppies on Houthammer Road, Devland Linbro Park on Marlboro Drive, Sandton Marie Louise on Dobsonville Road, Roodepoort Robinson Deep on Turffontein Road, Turffontein Ennerdale on Old Lawley Road, Lawley Metrobus Metrobus is hoping to keep its operations running, but should there be serious disruptions, it has asked passengers to make alternative transport arrangements. According to the bus company, passengers who use tags will not lose trips because of the strike. Joburg Water Joburg Water, the City's water utility, will not be affected because it is an essential service and its employees are not participating in the protest. Pay points Most of the major pay points will be open. Residents can also use alternative outlets, including banks, supermarkets and ATMs to pay their municipal services accounts. Pre-paid customers have been advised to put extra money into their accounts as a precautionary measure. For all City-related queries, call Joburg Connect on 011 375 5555 RELATED LINKS: City acts to cut disruptions THE City is taking a tough stance on strikers, sticking to a "No work, no pay" principle. Read more Three-day municipal strike winds down THE final day of the municipal strike ends on a low-key note in Joburg, with protestors sitting on the grass outside the Metro Centre in Braamfontein waiting to hand over a memo. Read more Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department Emergency management services Pikitup Metrobus Joburg Water

The long hill from the CBD towards the Metro Centre in Braamfontein

Strike rolls into its fourth day STRIKERS are refusing to give up and have called for yet another march on the Metropolitan Centre in Braamfontein. August 11, 2005 By Anish Abraham MUNICIPAL workers will gather at the Metropolitan Centre in Braamfontein again on Friday. Mostly members of the South African Municipal Workers Union (Samwu), striking municipal workers on Thursday gathered for the third time at Beyers Naudé Square in the city centre, from where they marched up Rissik Street to the council head offices. Under the watchful eyes of the police, striking municipal workers make their way up Rissik Street Strikers had also picketed peacefully in the gardens in front of the Metropolitan Centre on Wednesday, 10 August. On 11 August an early morning march to Braamfontein failed after the union had problems bringing in a truck to carry leaders and sound equipment. It was midday by the time the marchers finally set off for the council headoffice. Thursday's event was largely peaceful and free of incident. Under the watchful eye of a heavy police presence, union leaders ensured the crowd was under control and strikers refrained from tipping over rubbish bins or vandalising property. Once at the Metropolitan Centre, the crowds began chanting, demanding an 8 percent increase and that Johannesburg Executive Mayor Amos Masondo, who is also the chairperson of the South African Local Government Association - the employer body, personally accept a memorandum from local union leaders. However, Masondo was unavailable and a group headed by Phakedi Masekela, a legal adviser in the office of the executive mayor, went out to meet union leaders and accept the memorandum on his behalf. The union leaders refused, telling the gathered strikers to go back home and to assemble at the Metropolitan Centre at 10am on 12 August. "We did not hand it [the memorandum] over, as we want it to be accepted by the mayor. We will be back tomorrow, for the whole day if needed," said Dumisani Langa, the Johannesburg branch secretary of Samwu. Negotiations Samwu and Salga, have been in dispute over wage talks for some time. A three-day strike between 27 and 29 July failed to resolve differences. The union demanded that the minimum salary be increased to R3 000 a month and workers be given an across-the-board increase of 9 percent; Salga has unilaterally implemented a 6 percent salary increase. In an earlier briefing Masondo, said Salga was putting forward its best offer, considering the poor financial state of most of the country's municipalities. The union has since revised its demands to a guaranteed minimum salary of R3 000 a month and an increase of 8 percent or R350, whichever is the greater. Salga has accepted a proposal by Yunus Shaik, a mediator from the South African Local Government Bargaining Council, who is facilitating meetings between the parties. He has proposed an added 1,5 percent increase to salaries of workers earning less than R4 792 a month, from February 2006 onwards. It has also been proposed that a R3 000 minimum wage be implemented in the third year, with an increase of 1 percent plus consumer price inflation, in the second and third years. A third proposal is that wage talks be held every three years, instead of each year as is the case now. Shaik has given both parties until 18 August to accept or reject the proposals. According to Roger Ronnie, Samwu's general secretary, the unions will continue to strike indefinitely while the current offer is considered and until wage negotiations have been successful. A decision on the offer will be taken by the union's national executive council, which is meeting in Cape Town on Saturday, 13 August, after consultation with its members. "The strike is happening at a time when most municipalities are facing immense service delivery challenges, and this being the case, Salga is concerned that these strikes will compromise this critical situation," said Mbangwa Xaba, Salga's media manager. In the meanwhile, the City of Johannesburg had adopted a "No work, no pay" policy for the duration of the strike, according to Nthatisi Modingoane, the City spokesperson. "This is the position taken by the City's management in an attempt to minimise possible disruptions to service delivery during this labour action." Permission to use web site material Publishers may use material from this site free of charge, as long as: Credit is given to either the "City of Johannesburg website (www.joburg.org.za)" or to "Johannesburg News Agency (www.joburg.org.za)"; If the article is used online, a link is provided to the original article on this website; The name of the article's author is acknowledged; The webmaster is informed of how and where the material is used (fill in this brief online form). Johannesburg News Agency is operated by BIG Media at 011-484-1400 Print this Page E-mail this article to a friend Help using Joburg.org.za