Pretoria - The City of Tshwane has issued 38 dismissal letters to employees who participated in the unlawful and unprotected strike action.
The strike, 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 out to the striking employees, the metro said in a statement.
The city has also issued 89 letters to the electricity switching teams to all the regions over the weekend, except in Region 7, for failure to perform their duties. The electricians claimed the reason why they failed to execute their duties was due to intimidation by their striking colleagues.
They were given a deadline of 11am today to give written responses in relation to alleged acts of intimidation, and to identify those who had allegedly intimidated them.
The city also said it noted the Labour Court had not granted an order for contempt of court against the South African Municipal Workers Union 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, however, 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 July 28, 2023.
“The judgment does note that “the applicant (City of Tshwane) has not succeeded in obtaining the relief it seeks. However, the respondents do not come to court with clean hands... The union has elected to abdicate its responsibility in the face of strike action that is unprotected, and in the face of unlawful acts by its members that have prejudiced the rights of the ratepayers who pay their salaries.”
Pretoria News