Striking municipal workers make their voices heard outside the Metro Centre in Braamfontein

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Soaking up the mid morning sun

Day five and strike goes on THE fifth day of the strike by municipal workers was calm, with strikers sitting on the grass outside the metro head offices. August 12, 2005 By Tammy O'Reilly ON THE fifth day of the strike by municipal staff, workers gathered peacefully on the lawns of the Metropolitan Centre in Braamfontein. By midday on Friday, 12 August hundreds of workers had made themselves comfortable on the grass outside the council's head offices, waiting for the opportunity to hand over a memorandum to Johannesburg Executive Mayor Amos Masondo, who is also the chairperson of the South African Local Government Association. Members of the South African Municipal Workers Union and other unions want an increase of 9 percent, while the local government employer body has implemented a 6 percent raise. The municipality is sticking to its "No work, no pay" policy but the strikers are adamant. "We will strike until we get the increase that we want," said a council cleaner and Samwu member who did not want to be named. Again there was a heavy police presence, and the roads around the metro building were closed to traffic. The morning was uneventful, save for a small group of steadfast strikers who toyi-toyied along the roads that had been cordoned off. 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