Municipal workers win big

By Staff Reporter

BLOEMFONTEIN – For the first time in public service history, a five-year collective salary and wage agreement has been reached for the local government sector.

The new salary and wage collective agreement comes after the expiration of a three-year wage deal signed in 2021 which provided increases of 3.5% (2021/22), 4.9% (2022/23), and 5.4% (2023/24).
The South African the South African Local Government Association (Salga) Local Government Association (Salga), representing 257 municipalities employing 300,000 workers, signed the deal with the SA Municipal Workers Union (Samwu) and the Independent Municipal and Allied Trade Union.
“The deal is expected to provide much-needed stability in the local government sector,” Salga said.

Samwu’s general secretary Dumisane Magagula said the agreement, effective from July 1 this year to June 30 2029, “represents stability, consistency and long-term benefits for municipal workers across the country”.
“The extended duration of the agreement will provide municipalities with the fiscal predictability necessary to improve planning, service delivery and employee welfare,” he said.

Workers will receive a 6% salary and wage increase, payable as a 4.5% increase, effective from July 1 2024, followed by an additional 1.5% increase payable by March 1 2025.
In the 2025/26 and 2026/27 financial years, the salary increase is pegged to consumer inflation plus 0.75%. For the 2027/28 and 2028/29 financial years increases will be pegged at CPI plus 1.25%.

Members of South Africa Municipal Workers Union celebrating.

Employees earning R22,000 per month or less who do not receive any form of housing allowance will benefit from a once-off payment of R2,000 in the first year of the agreement.
Salga said the agreement takes into account the challenging economic environment, characterized by high inflation and constrained fiscal resources, particularly in light of several municipalities facing financial distress.

“As part of the agreement, Salga also introduced a revamped exemption process using a set of financial distress indicators from National Treasury to assist struggling municipalities.”

Samwu said it would remain vigilant in ensuring every municipality fully complies with the terms of the agreement. It gave notice it intends to campaign for non-salary issues, including the provision of housing to municipal workers and the permanent absorption of expanded public works programme workers.