Michael Bagraim talking to the Cape Town Press Club at 7 Weltevreden street in Gardens. Picture: Sam Clark Michael Bagraim talking to the Cape Town Press Club at 7 Weltevreden street in Gardens. Picture: Sam Clark
Cape Town - The Cape Chamber of Commerce and Industry has slammed municipal workers for their looming looming strike - warning that the current wave of strikes was destroying international faith in SA business.
The SA Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) began consulting its members last week to determine if they wanted a one-day strike or an indefinite strike over wages and corruption in local government.
Union spokesman Tahir Sema has advised that the SA Local Government Association (Salga) and Co-operative Governance Minister Richard Baloyi had been informed of Samwu’s intention to strike.
“We are still consulting our membership on start date of the action and state of readiness,” Sema said.
On Tuesday, the City of Cape Town said no word had yet been received on when the strike could take place either.
Michael Bagraim, president of the Chamber, issued a hard-hitting warning on Tuesday, saying he thought it clear that political tensions were simmering beneath the recent labour action and that the unrest was not about wages or work issues but part of a power game played by political factions trying to strengthen their hands before the Manguang conference later this year.
He said the real “give away” was the threat by municipal workers to go on strike: “Municipal workers are extremely well paid and enjoy excellent benefits. They are much better off than their colleagues in the private sector so they have no reason to strike.”
Bagraim warned that this strike, on top of the recent strikes, industrial unrest and violence elsewhere in the economy might be seen by international investors as the early warning signs of SA’s own “Arab Spring”.
He said the situation was made worse by the failure of the government to step in and restore law and order: “There have been several strike deaths in recent years but no prosecutions. This has clearly emboldened the activists and we are now seeing murder and intimidation being used as weapons in the new political struggle.
“Unfortunately when the police did take action at Marikana they went too far and in the process destroyed much of their own credibility. Now the government is afraid to make decisions or take action against unruly mobs. There is great concern about the leadership paralysis and everybody is waiting for Mangaung. To the outside world this chaos must look like some kind of economic suicide.”
The City of Cape Town said in response to news of a possible Samwu strike: “The City of Cape Town has not been officially notified of a SAMWU strike, nor has it received an application to march. However, we have taken note of reports that SAMWU National is consulting its members with the intention to strike.
“Should a strike materialise, the city will implement its usual contingency measures in order to minimise disruptions to service delivery.”
Cape Argus