MASHUDU SADIKE
mashudu.sadike@inl.co.za
The City of Tshwane has paid employee salaries that were withheld due to the unprotected strike that gripped the capital in recent months.
The Labour Court had ordered the municipality on October 26 to pay the more than 60 employees who had their salaries docked.
This comes after metro workers who are members of the Independent Municipal and Allied Trade Union (Imatu) were only paid 75% of their salaries.
Municipality spokesperson Selby Bokaba confirmed to the “Pretoria News” yesterday that the salaries had been paid.
“Yes, the withheld salaries were paid on the day that the court set a deadline (October 27) for payments to be processed.
“The City reinstated the salaries docked for the period that the employees were on strike in one deduction. The Basic Conditions of Employment Act requires that the employer may not deduct more than 25% of an employee’s salary. The deductions affected were in excess of the 25% threshold, hence the reason for the reversal of the deductions,” Bokaba said.
The City had docked the striking workers’ salaries after the court granted it a permanent interdict against its employees who took part in the unprotected strike action.
However, the urgent court interdict that was brought to the Labour Court by Imatu reversed that decision.
Acting Judge Mark Morgan initially ordered that the metro was prohibited from making any deductions from municipal workers suspected to have participated in the unprotected strike.
Morgan said in the order: “If such deductions are made by the respondent from applicants’ members’ salaries for October, the respondent is ordered to effect a rerun and pay at its own expense…”
The union’s Tshwane regional secretary, Lynette Burns-Coetzee, said the employees had missed 22 days of work because of the strike.
She argued that the workers had clocked in at work but could not perform their duties due to intimidation from striking workers.
Meanwhile, the metro has announced that the bus services would continue this week after months of non-operation because of the strike action.
MMC for roads and transport Katlego Mathebe confirmed that buses were already on the road plying their trade across the city except the Olievenhoutbosch route.
She said the route remained suspended following last week’s incident in which a bus was set alight.
Mathebe urged police to work tirelessly to make sure all perpetrators were brought to book and face the full might of the law.
Pretoria News