Garbage Strike Over, Joburg Starts the Clean-up
The city of Johannesburg’s garbage-collecting division Pikitup has reached a deal with workers, who have been striking illegally for almost a month, which meant the clean-up of the city could begin on Monday. The strike caused tensions to rise in the city, with trucks that kept going out being fired upon at one point, according […]
The city of Johannesburg’s garbage-collecting division Pikitup has reached a deal with workers, who have been striking illegally for almost a month, which meant the clean-up of the city could begin on Monday.
The strike caused tensions to rise in the city, with trucks that kept going out being fired upon at one point, according to news reports. Pikitup was quoted as saying that the strike was costing it R1 million a day to organise alternative garbage collections.
The Commission for Conciliation Mediation and Arbitration brokered a deal between Pikitup and the SA Municipal Workers Union (Samwu), the city said in a statement on Sunday, and that the workers would start up again on Monday.
“I’m really happy that common sense has finally prevailed,” councillor Matshidiso Mfikoe said in the wake of mounting concerns of possible outbreaks of disease as garbage continued to pile up on streets and pavements in many parts of the city.
Some 4,000 of workers went on an unprotected strike about a month ago, according to news reports, and demanded a minimum salary of between R9,000 and R10,000. They are facing disciplinary hearings for ignoring dismissal notices and two court interdicts issued during the strike.
One of the workers’ demands had also been the removal of Pikitup managing director Amanda Nair. The city said a dossier of 18 allegations against Nair had been referred to an independent company for investigation, which wasexpect ed to make its findings soon.
Pikitup, meanwhile, would make a once-off payment of R750 to all grades A and B workers. This would be taken into account in further negotiations, which would begin on Monday. Both parties agreed that the money be deducted from the workers’ salaries over three months.
“I’d like to again apologise to residents on behalf of the political leadership of the City for the inconvenience caused by the illegal stoppage of work. I’d also like to appeal to residents to be patient as it will take time for collection to waste normalise,” Mfikoe said.
