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Disgruntled Plettenberg Bay municipal workers are set to go on strike on Monday after among other issues the municipality withdrew its transport programme offered to certain officials.
The South African Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) issued a notice to strike last week indicating two main grounds for the action.
Municipal workers are unhappy after the municipality announced that from December 1 it would do away with its municipal transport programme in an effort to cut costs.
“The municipality has since 1997 provided transport for certain municipal workers at no cost to them. The cost of transporting workers on this basis until now was carried by the ratepayers.
Council has apart from a cost perspective also considered the safety and insurance issue and on
October 16 this year decided to withdraw the programme,” municipal spokesman Kholiswa Masiza said.
In Samwu’s notice the union also indicated that municipal workers were unhappy about the “dismissal of community development workers”.
Masiza explained that last year the municipality underwent a restructuring process to eliminate non-key posts.
“The posts of the 14 community development workers were taken off the organogram. Council went further and through a placement process offered the affected officials alternative positions. The positions offered to the affected officials were refused by them. These officials exited from the municipality last month.”
Samwu indicated that the workers will strike indefinitely from November 10.
“The no work no pay principle will be applied. Municipal services will be affected if the strike proceeds. However the municipality is putting contingency measures in place to minimise the impact of the strike.”
