Commend Tshwane workers for not supporting strike

DA commends Tshwane municipal workers
 
Cllr Brandon Topham
 
DA leader in the Tshwane Metropolitan Council
 
The Democratic Alliance commends municipal workers in the Tshwane Metro for chosing work over strike-action the past few weeks. 
 
The strike called by the South African Municipal Workers' Union (SAMWU) was largy a failure.
 
It points to a discord between union bosses and union members about the place of trade unions in society.
 
Recent research finding by Adcorp serve to confirm the decline of South Africa's highly politicised trade union movement.
 
Union membership has shrunk from 35.6% to 24.7% as a portion of all workers in the past decade, costing unions an estimated R990 million a year in lost membership fees.
 
This decline has coincided with the growing militancy of strike action, in part attributable to politically ambitious union bosses who have overplayed their hands.
 
The price of this militancy and political opportunism, including life-threatening and property-destroying violence, has proven to be too high for ordinary workers to bear.
 
The DA condemns the instances of intimidation and violence which still occurred during the strike.
 
But we are hopeful that union bosses will get the message sent by the majority of their members, and that further negotiations will improve working conditions more effectively than striking which serves no ones interests.