MMC threatens to expel striking Pikitup workers

11 March 2016

 

City of Johannesburg’s Member of the Mayoral Committee for Environment and Infrastructure Services (MMC), Councillor Matshidiso Mfikoe, has given striking Pikitup workers an ultimatum to return to work immediately or face the risk of having their services terminated.

 

More than 3 500 Pikitup workers, many of them members of the South African Municipal Workers’ Union (SAMWU), embarked on an illegal strike on Wednesday March 9 – the third in five months.

MMC Mfikoe told a news conference at Pikitup’s head office in Braamfontein yesterday March 10, that the dismissal process would begin immediately and finalised on Friday next week.

She noted, however, that there were a number of workers who were prepared to work but were intimidated and threatened with violence at depots by those bent on causing “chaos in the City to achieve their own ends”.

SAMWU’s grievances include claims of salary disparities, maladministration and nepotism. The union has also called for the dismissal of Pikitup’s Managing Director Amanda Nair.

Mfikoe said Nair “is going nowhere” unless substantiated evidence was placed before the City. She apologised to residents on behalf of the City for the disruption of waste management services and for the inconvenience they had suffered as a result.

She said the City and SAMWU had agreed on December 3 last year to restore a relationship of trust in a process facilitated by a senior counsel appointed by the Gauteng Provincial Government. The MMC said the City and Pikitup management condemned the latest unlawful work stoppage.

“We have also received reports of violence and intimidation at depots. This [work stoppage] is a complete violation of an agreement with SAMWU. The hard-fought-for rights of workers are embodied in progressive labour legislation. No dispute has been declared or certificate granted for SAMWU to embark on a protected strike,” MMC Mfikoe said.

She said events of Wednesday March 9 clearly demonstrated that SAMWU was negotiating in bad faith. She said the City had done everything possible to resolve all the concerns raised by SAMWU in an amicable manner.