Union march to disrupt refuse collection, warns Pikitup and Johannesburg councillor
· Citizen
Delays in refuse collection are expected to continue into the weekend as a union continues its fight for billions in wages.
The South African Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) demonstrated in Johannesburg on Thursday over the status of its Politically Facilitated Agreement (PFA).
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Samwu has been demanding council confirmation of an R10 billion deal agreed with the Johannesburg municipality in the days leading up to November’s G20 Summit.
The first payment of R1.2 billion is due on Friday, and the DA has been attempting to halt its release through the High Court on Friday, 27 March, drawing a response from the union.
Samwu was accused last week of intimidating councillors during a debate on the payment, after security was called to deal with protesting union members.
Refuse-collection backlog
Pikitup confirmed that its rounds had been affected by the protest action and that delays would continue into the weekend.
The entity had already been dealing with a collection backlog due to the closure of landfills, with Randburg and Roodepoort among the worst-hit.
“Waste management, including round collection of refuse in some parts of the city, may be disrupted due to a sanctioned general staff meeting.”
“As a result, normal resumption of waste management services may be delayed into the weekend,” Pikitup stated on Thursday.
Pikitup had aimed to clear the backlog by 23 March, but as of Wednesday, many areas remained at least a day behind.
Additional resources have been deployed to assist with diverting vehicles away from two of the city’s four landfills due to capacity limits, which is causing extended travel times for trucks.
‘Total financial collapse’
Ward 72 councillor Daniel Schay warned that disruptions could spread to all municipal departments with staff aligned with Samwu.
Schay stated that the R10 billion wage deal was signed in secret, and if the DA’s High Court interdict against it fails, it would doom the city.
“The city already has a R2.5 billion operational deficit. Shockingly, during negotiations, Samwu demanded that the city remove the affordability condition from the deal – and the city just agreed.
“If that money hits thousands of employee bank accounts, it is practically impossible to recover. They knowingly committed to a deal we cannot afford,” stated Schay.
The councillor added that funding for the PFA would bring cuts to infrastructure, maintenance and security budgets.
Joburg Mayor Dada Morero previously stated that there would be no budget cuts but admitted that no provisions had been made for the payment.
“We are in court right now fighting to interdict this payment before it leaves the bank and pushes Johannesburg into total financial collapse,” Schay concluded.
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