Sowetan
*Kiss service goodbye with massive strike * *Vusi Xaba, Sowetan, Johannesburg, 12 August 2011*THE South African Municipal Workers Union will embark on a massive national strike that will grind municipal services to a halt on Monday.
Armed with an estimated 200,000 members, Samwu said yesterday it would bring all 262 municipalities and their entities in the country to a standstill.
The trade union declared a dispute with employer body South African Local Government Association and issued a strike notice last Wednesday.
Samwu is demanding an 18 percent salary hikes, while Salga is offering 6,08 percent.
Samwu spokesperson Tahir Sema said the strike would be indefinite."As a union we did not take the decision to strike lightly. We discussed the decision at length and exhausted all avenues of bargaining available to us.
"We do feel that this dispute could have been resolved at the bargaining table had the employer been more understanding of workers' needs and difficulties when it comes to day-to-day living.
"The objective of this strike action is to force the employer to revise its offer and give the workers a decent annual wage increase," Sema said.
Sema said services to be affected include municipal clinics, revenue collection, water distribution, electricity generation and distribution, refuse collection, metro police, maintenance of municipal properties and roads.
He said emergency services would run on a skeleton staff because it was regarded as an essential service dealing with matters of life and death.
Samwu is known for causing a mess in cities when they go on strike.Salga confirmed that it has received the strike notice and said it could not do anything to avert it.
Acting director of labour relations Johan van Zyl said the organisation could not meet the union's demand of an increase of 18 percent.
"According to our current budget we cannot afford an increase of 18 percent. Our doors are open to the unions. We hope they will change their minds and come to the negotiation table," Van Zyl said.
The last time Samwu went on a national strike was in 2009. It managed to get an increase of 12 percent for its workers then.
*From: http://www.sowetanlive.co.za/news/2011/08/12/kiss-service-goodbye-with-massive-strike
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