Municipal workers set to receive 5.4% salary and wage increase for the 2023-23 financial year

31 March 2023

The South African Municipal Workers’ Union (SAMWU) seeks to advise its members and municipal workers in general that as per the 3-year salary and wage collective agreement reached between parties in the South African Local Government Bargaining Council (SALGBC), all municipal workers in the country’s 257 municipalities and their entities under the auspices of the SALGBC will be receiving a salary and wage increase of 5.4% effective 1 July 2023. 

The sectoral minimum wage shall, with effect from 1 July be increased to R9 531.21, Homeowners allowance shall increase to R1 066.41 while the cap for employer contribution towards medical aid shall be increased to R5 277.38. These increases are the last leg of the salary and collective agreement reached by parties in 2021. 

We are as a Union, aware of municipalities that are yet to implement other legs of this collective agreement and as such we will be focusing much of our attention to ensure that all municipalities comply with the 2021 collective agreement. 

We have also noticed in the past, the tendency by municipalities to deny workers their salary increases as agreed in the SALGBC. We will therefore be monitoring the implementation of this last leg of the collective agreement to ensure that no municipality applies for exemption. We are also ready to challenge any exemption application by municipalities, given the current economic situation which workers find themselves in, especially the recent increase of the repo rate to 7.70%, a decision which will have dire consequences for municipal workers and South Africans. 

Parties to the SALGBC will later this year begin negotiations for a new salary and wage collective agreement in anticipation of the lapse of the current agreement. We will as a Union, be embarking on an extensive mandate taking exercise to ensure that the voices of all our members and municipal workers are heard. 

We therefore, urge our members to participate in the mandate taking exercises which will be consolidated by the upcoming Collective Bargaining Conference. We are all aware of the financial situation which municipal workers find themselves in and as such, we want to ensure that the upcoming negotiations take workers out of this situation. 

Issued by Dumisane Magagula, General Secretary, 31 March 2023