SAMWU softens tongue after Tshwane’s decision to backpay employees

After threatening to make the City of Tshwane ungovernable for the G20 Summit, the South African Municipal Workers' Union (SAMWU) has softened its tongue following the city’s decision to backpay its employees three years’ worth of salary increases.

The South African Local Bargaining Council (SALBC) recently ordered the municipality to implement a 3.5% salary increase for over 20,000 of the city’s workers.

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The salary bumps date back to the 2021/2022 financial year, with estimates saying the backpay alone will set the city back by about R2 billion.

Opposition parties have criticised the African National Congress (ANC)-led coalition government for not taking the bargaining council’ judgment on review, saying this jeopardises the city’s financial standing.

SAMWU's regional secretary, Donald Monakis, has praised the current administration for choosing to honour the judgment.

“Look man, to be fair, salary and wages aside, this administration, since they came in, the door is always open. There has been constant engagement as much as we were not agreeing in terms of the salary and wages but on other matters, they have been forthcoming and the door has always been open, unlike the previous administration led by the DA [Democratic Alliance].”