Municipal workers down tools

2008-05-05 18:05

Pretoria - Scores of Tswhane municipal workers downed tools on Monday to demand fairer salary packages and labour practices, a spokesperson said.

Zebulon Monkoe, deputy branch chairperson of the SA Municipal Workers Union (Samwu) in Pretoria, said about 4 000 members marched to the Tshwane mayor's office to hand over a memorandum of demands.

The protest march marked the start of an indefinite strike, he said.

Samwu's demands include a standardised salary grading system following the amalgamation of 13 different municipalities in 2000.

"The different municipalities are all still on different salary grading systems," he said.

Also, Samwu is protesting against the implementation of a new service delivery model called Alternative Service Delivery (ASD) which has resulted in many of its members being demoted.

"This has affected the entire management level where many managers have been demoted," said Monkoe.

The City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality is yet to comment on the strike and its impact on municipal service delivery.

- SAPA