The City of Tshwane has drawn a line in the sand by issuing 38 dismissal letters last night to employees who participated in the unlawful and unprotected strike action.
The strike, which was declared unlawful and unprotected by the Labour Court two weeks ago, has impacted service restoration turnaround times. The dismissed employees disregarded the court interdict and multiple ultimatums issued by the City Manager to return to work.
More dismissal letters will be issued to the striking employees.
The City also issued 89 dismissal letters to electricity switching teams of Regions 1 to 6 (except Region 7) over the weekend for failure to perform their duties. The electricians claimed that the reason why they failed to execute their duties was due to intimidation by striking colleagues. They were given a deadline of 11:00 today to give written responses in relation to alleged acts of intimidation and to identify those who allegedly intimidated them.
The City has noted that the Labour Court has not granted an order for contempt of court today against the South African Municipal Workers’ Union (SAMWU) for continuing to engage in the unlawful and unprotected strike action. Although a contempt of court order was not granted in the City’s favour, the court was scathing of the conduct of SAMWU’s leadership, including its failure to take responsibility for what the court has declared to be an unprotected and unlawful strike on 28 July 2023. The City will consult its attorneys on how best to respond to the judgement.
Interestingly, the judgement does note the following: “The applicant (City of Tshwane) has not succeeded in obtaining the relief it seeks. However, the respondents (SAMWU) do not come to court with clean hands. As I have indicated the terms of the answering affidavit are nothing less than mendacious. The Union has elected to abdicate its responsibility in the face of strike action that is clearly unprotected, and in the face of unlawful acts by its members that have prejudiced the rights of the ratepayers who pay their salaries.”