Pretoria - The City of Johannesburg has condemned the ongoing lawlessness by striking Pikitup workers this week.
Members of the South African Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) downed tools on Monday in protest against alleged corruption involving Pikitup’s managing director, Amanda Nair.
The workers have been emptying rubbish bins onto the streets to express their grievances. This is despite Pikitup obtaining a court interdict prohibiting the strike earlier.
“It is not acceptable for the workers to go on an illegal strike, ignore a court order to return to work and continue to trash the streets of the city when they have not communicated their grievances to the city’s leadership,” said Johannesburg Member of the Mayoral Committee (MMC) for Environment and Infrastructure Services, Matshidiso Mfikoe.
Mfikoe said they have not been approached by the workers about their grievances.
“Even though the workers marched to the Joburg Mayor’s office on Tuesday and Wednesday, they did not hand over a memorandum on arrival at the Metro Centre to give us an opportunity to try resolve their grievances,” she said.
Mfikoe said the city’s leadership is sympathetic to the workers’ legitimate concerns and efforts are being made to resolve them.
She encouraged workers to return to work and use legal channels to express their grievances.
“Breaking the law and trashing the city without bringing forward their grievances to the leadership is not going to resolve anything but compound problems for workers - both with the employer and legally. We therefore appeal to workers to engage with us to resolve their grievances.” – SAnews.gov.za
