Sacci concerned at Samwu protest action

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Pretoria - The South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Sacci) has expressed grave concern at protest actions with just over 50 days to go before kick off to the World Cup.

This as over 130 000 members of the South African Municipal Workers Union (Samwu) took to the streets across the country on Tuesday.

The South African Municipal Workers Union (Samwu) wants the South African Local Government Association (Salga) to introduce a job evaluation system for workers.

SACCI said disruptions to essential services cannot be condoned. "The inability of employees in business to get to work as a result of disruptions to bus services impacts negatively on productivity and constrains the ability of producers to deliver goods and services on time.

"This places a burden on the country's hesitant recovery from the global downturn as contracts are placed in jeopardy due to non performance by traders," said Sacci.

According to the Chamber its members have said that access to businesses has been hampered due to litter and bins that have been strewn across the streets.

"The fact that shops along the routes taken by marchers have had to close through fear of vandalism impacts negatively on turnover.

"This in turn impacts on the ability of shop owners to cover expenses such as the payment of wages to employees. This has a ripple effect on the economy as workers' disposable income is reduced," explained Sacci.

The City of Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni, Tshwane, the City of Cape Town and the Nelson Mandela Metro in the Eastern Cape have put contingency plans in place to provide essential services to the public.