Reho strikers back at work
The nearly 90 employees of the Rehoboth town council were back in the office yesterday after their strike came to an end after almost two weeks.Mayor Enrico Junius said yesterday that the management committee had made it clear in negotiations with representatives of the Public Service Workers Union (Napwu) that the decision not to grant any increases to local authorities had been taken by the Cabinet and applied to all 57 municipalities, town and village councils countrywide.
Although the town's management committee approved the request for a 4% increase last year, it was overturned by the Cabinet's decision.
Furthermore, the instruction from the Minister of Urban and Rural Development, Erastus Uutoni, is that strikers may not receive payment for the eight days they were not at work.
Junius said all services were restored by yesterday. “Some workers already started [working] over the weekend to get the pumping stations for sewage removal up and running again and to make sure residents have water and electricity.
He said that Minister Uutoni had already submitted an application to the Labour Court on behalf of the 57 local authorities before the strike to declare certain services such as water, electricity and sewerage as essential.
“This means that if the workers go on strike again, we will have no choice but to ask the court to enforce this order,” Junius said.