The South African Municipal Workers’ Union (SAMWU) has sharply criticised a ruling of the Labour Court that exempts the City of Tshwane from increasing its employees’ salaries as collectively negotiated in the South African Local Government Association (SALGA) Bargaining Council.

The contentious ruling, handed down on Friday, followed an application by the then Democratic Alliance (DA) run City of Tshwane.

At the time, the city argued that it lacked the financial resources to implement the salary increments. Other municipalities, including Newcastle in KwaZulu-Natal, had also applied for similar exemptions but were unsuccessful.

The City of Tshwane then escalated the matter to the Labour Court, where it was heard by Judge Sean J Snyman.

In his ruling, Judge Snyman acknowledged the complexity of the case, admitting it was a difficult judgment to write because no matter how one may cut it, there are really no winners.

“If the applicant succeeds in obtaining exemption, the employees of the applicant would undoubtedly lose out on wage increases negotiated in their behalf at a central level in the bargaining council, which as a general proposition would be quite unfair.

“However, and if exemption is refused, considering the undisputed dire financial position of the applicant, then increases would have to be funded from somewhere, and I have little doubt that in such a case it could come at the expense of service delivery to the residents of the applicant, which is already compromised.

“This is the kind of situation that should never arise, and is yet another manifestation of the dire straits of municipalities across the entire country. But anyway, a decision must be made,” reads the introduction of the ruling.

Slamming the ruling, SAMWU described it as a deeply troubling intervention by the courts in the collective bargaining process, warning of its far-reaching consequences for workers’ rights.

“The ruling remits the City of Tshwane’s 2021/2 exemption application, seeking relief from a negotiated 3.5% wage increase, back to the SALGBC for fresh determination. Simultaneously, and more alarmingly, it grants the City exemption from implementing the 5.4% wage increase for the 2023/4 financial year, effectively stripping thousands of municipal workers of their hard-won rights and undermining the principle of fair compensation for their labour.

“This ruling is not a neutral legal exercise but a judicial endorsement of austerity, continuing a dangerous trend of courts encroaching into collective bargaining to undermine worker protections and erode the power of unions to effectively represent their members,” the union said.

The COSATU-affiliated union further said the Labour Court’s decision to override the SALGBC’s authority, a body constitutionally mandated to resolve labour disputes within the local government sector and give effect to agreements reached through collective bargaining, amounts to a direct attack on the autonomy of collective bargaining.

“By substituting the SALGBC’s 2023 ruling with its own determination, the court has overstepped its role, improperly venturing into the evaluation of complex financial evidence and affordability criteria—a terrain rightfully reserved for bargaining councils with their specific expertise in labour relations within the sector,” SAMWU added.