Brandon George, chairperson of the South African Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu). Photo: Facebook/Samwu
The industrial action was due to resume on Tuesday after the union and the municipality failed to reach an agreement.
The South African Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) in Msunduzi has temporarily suspended the planned resumption of its wage strike.
The industrial action, which had been put on hold last week, was due to resume on Tuesday after the union and the municipality failed to reach an agreement.
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However, the union has decided to extend the suspension of the strike while further engagements continue.
Union chairperson in Msunduzi, Brandon George, told The Witness on Tuesday that a last-minute decision was taken to drop the resumption following a meeting between the union representative and Msunduzi troika on Monday.
George said the meeting has given the employees an undertaking that a special council meeting would be held on Wednesday to consider several of the workers’ outstanding demands.
The industrial action, which has disrupted service delivery across the city for nearly three weeks, saw refuse collection grind to a halt in many areas, leaving waste piling up and raising concerns about public health, sanitation and the municipality’s ability to provide essential services.
Although the union had planned to resume the strike on Tuesday, it announced on Monday that the action would remain suspended after fresh engagements with municipal leadership.
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At the heart of the dispute is the union’s demand that all general assistants be regraded from salary level T3 to T7, arguing that workers were not being fairly compensated for the duties they perform.
The union has also raised concerns over salary disparities and has called for the municipality to conclude a long-awaited job evaluation process to ensure equitable grading across affected positions.
George said the South African Local Government Association (Salga) had advised that the municipality appoint Deloitte to oversee the grading and job evaluation process, a development the union views as progress towards resolving the dispute.
“We met with the municipal troika and received assurances that a special council meeting will deal with some of our issues, including the salary dispute,” said George.
We see this as a positive outcome from our engagements with the employer.
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He acknowledged that no final decision could be taken without approval from the full council but expressed optimism that Wednesday’s meeting would bring the standoff to an end.
The suspension of the strike is expected to allow municipal workers to return to their duties and begin clearing the backlog of uncollected refuse while restoring other essential services.
Source: https://witness.co.za/news/2026/06/30/samwu-suspends-strike/