SAMWU adamant won’t back down on City of Joburg benefits protest

Members of the municipal workers union SAMWU are adamant that they will take the City of Johannesburg head-on for what is rightfully theirs. SAMWU regional secretary Thobani Nkosi says workers won’t be intimidated until the municipality settles the R5.4 billion benefits agreed upon in 2016. Nkosi says the negotiated payment is meant to address historic pay scale disparities and underpayment. On Monday, union members staged an intense wage dispute protest that brought parts of Johannesburg to a standstill, including blocking the busy M1 highway, leading to the Metro Police arresting several SAMWU members on a charge of inciting public violence. “In actual fact, what happened today in court is that our members did not appear simply because the docket arrived late here. So, members are still kept at Hillbrow Police Station. So, it means they’ll only appear tomorrow after the DPP has gone through the docket. The bone of contention, it’s money between us and the City of Johannesburg. It’s money owed to employees of the City of Johannesburg. We’ve entered into negotiations as of 2022 but this agreement was entered into in 2016 and money is accumulated to an amount of R10.3 billion. So out of the R10.3 billion, we only got paid R1.2 billion. In July 2026, we should have received R5.2 billion and the balance would have been paid in 2027, July.” Video: SAMWU leadership outside Johannesburg court to support arrested protesters