All municipal services that require payment from the public will be free, the Independent Municipal and Allied Trade Union (Imatu) in Nelson Mandela Bay has threatened.
In other words, people paying their bills will not actually have to hand over any money even though their bills will be marked as paid.
The union’s regional manager, Churchill Mothapo, said it had instructed its members working as cashiers and vendors not to accept money from those paying their bills and buying electricity from tomorrow.
“If anyone wants to pay a traffic offence, pay electricity, anything that requires payment, we commit our members and encourage them to provide such things without cost to the community just to put pressure on the municipality,” he said.
“Not everyone wants to be out on the street but those who are at work have committed that their contribution will be to render these services for free.”
Imatu joined the strike yesterday, the fifth day after it started.
The workers downed tools on Thursday, embarking on an indefinite strike, demanding that 2,689 municipal workers each be paid a R30,000 settlement.
The demand stems from money owed to them after the former Uitenhage, Despatch and Port Elizabeth municipalities merged to form Nelson Mandela Bay in 2000.
Mothapo said the union’s idea to provide “free services” derived from the fact that it was always the community that suffered when there was industrial action and this was a way of alleviating its struggles.
“We want something that will benefit our communities, we want something that will hurt the employer and the employer alone, and this will hit the municipality very hard,” he said.
He encouraged residents to make use of the opportunity.On Friday, Imatu said it would join Samwu, which has more members, in its strike.
Early yesterday, members of both unions gathered outside the Lillian Diedericks building in Govan Mbeki Avenue.
The streets in the metro, particularly around the Port Elizabeth central business district, were filthy, with dustbins toppled over and rubbish strewn everywhere.
No refuse has been collected from homes and businesses since Thursday, and both the Korsten and Uitenhage traffic and licensing centres were not operational.
Customer care centres remained closed and the public was barred from accessing the Mfanasekhaya Gqobese Building in Govan Mbeki Avenue.
Samwu regional secretary Mqondisi Nodongwe distanced himself from Mothapo’s instruction to Imatu members, saying it had not been discussed with his union.
“I’m not aware of that [instruction to not take the money for payments]. Maybe it’s a strategy they are using to apply pressure on the municipality,” he said.
Nodongwe said the workers were still picketing and the union had not heard back from the municipality after it handed over a memorandum listing its grievances on Friday.While he had heard that the municipal bosses were trying to find a solution to end the strike, none of the union representatives had been approached.
Yesterday, Imatu handed over its memorandum of grievances to the city management, which includes demands for the insourcing of all outsourced municipal services and finalisation of the scarce skills policy.
It also wants the travel allowance policy renegotiated.
Municipal spokesman Kupido Baron said the municipality had not received any formal notification from Imatu regarding its instruction to union members to not take money for payments.
“We have a list of demands from them and nothing else,” Baron said.
Human settlements executive director Nolwandle Gqiba, who is acting city manager while Johann Mettler is on leave, said the mayoral committee would have to make the final decision on the unions’ demands.
“We are done with our response to the memorandums, but they have to be circulated within our processes, and once that is done, the response will go to the mayoral committee for a decision,” Gqiba said.Corporate services political head Annette Lovemore said the official strike certificate was based on only one issue – the matter of long-service bonus backpay, which had been the subject of negotiation in the municipality’s labour forum.
“However, both unions have provided lists of this and other issues that they wish to have addressed,” she said.
Lovemore said Mettler and mayor Athol Trollip would set the negotiating wheels in motion from today.