The South African Council of Churches is concerned about the on-going municipal workers strike, and the inability by Salga to reach a wage settlement with the workers.

Like all South Africans, we are concerned about low wages earned by workers in this sector, and the fact that what appears to be a reasonable wage demands by the municipal workers, is falling on deaf ears.

Our plea is that the South African Local Government Association (Salga) should take the initiative, and maintain a moral high ground in their wage negotiations with workers, responding humanely and in a just manner to the workers wage demands.

We think in the final analysis the strike can neither be in the interest of workers nor the bosses, and should therefore be resolved in a manner that will benefit both workers and bosses.

Like all South Africans, we deplore vandalism and violence, and we would like to call on union leaders to appeal to their members to exercise their right to strike in a manner that will lend dignity to their wage demand and struggle.

The SACC believes that as South Africans we have in the past demonstrated our ability to resolve seemingly intractable disputes. In the same spirit, let the workers and Salga engage in a fruitful engagement that will respond favourably to the demands of workers.

We therefore call on Salga to rise above narrow interests, and help resolve the dispute in a manner that will adequately address the obviously serious wage gap within this sector.

For more details, please contact Fr Joe Mdhlela on his mobile phone, 082 456 55 48.