3.5% INCREASE DATING BACK TO 2021 FINALLY SECURED IN THE TSHWANE REGION
3.5% INCREASE DATING BACK TO 2021 FINALLY SECURED IN THE TSHWANE REGION
It is with great enthusiasm and relief that IMATU Tshwane confirms that Organised Labour and the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality signed the settlement agreement for the 3.5% increase today, 11 March 2026.
Members will recall that this process began in 2022 when the City submitted a delayed exemption application to avoid implementing the 3.5% increase. The exemption application was not heard on its merits and was dismissed at the SALGBC. The City subsequently approached the Labour Court to review the arbitration award. The Labour Court reviewed the award and remitted the matter back to the SALGBC for the exemption application to be heard on its merits.
In 2025, the SALGBC Commissioner dismissed the exemption application and ordered that the adjustment and back-payment be implemented within six months for employees of the City of Tshwane.
It soon became clear that the payment of approximately R1.1 billion within a six-month period would place the City, which is currently on a path of financial recovery, under severe financial pressure.
The parties therefore engaged to find a practical solution to ensure that the 3.5% adjustment on salaries and benefits could be implemented from 1 March 2026. The back payment of the 3.5% salary increases, dating back to 1 July 2021, will be paid from June 2026 until February 2029. Payments will commence with employees on the lowest TASK (TASK level 1) and conclude with employees on the highest TASK level (TASK level 22).
During this lengthy process, the City and its employees also experienced a violent and unprotected strike, primarily due to the non-implementation of both the 3.5% (2021) and 5.4% (2023) salary increases. In addition, Organised Labour and the City participated in a Section 150 facilitation process at the CCMA for a period of two years in an effort to resolve both matters.
IMATU Tshwane is pleased that this long-standing matter relating to the implementation of the 2021 Salary and Wage Collective Agreement has finally been resolved.
Regarding the 2023 increase of 5.4% the matter is currently before the Judge President of the Labour Appeal Court in a petition to appeal the Labour Court’s decision to grant the City exemption. Members will be kept informed of developments in this process.
VIVA IMATU VIVA
