Municipal strike over - union

Johannesburg - The country-wide municipal strike is over, the Independent Municipal and Allied Trade Union (Imatu) said on Wednesday.

"Imatu is pleased to announce that with our intervention, the SA Local Government Bargaining Council parties have reached a settlement in the ongoing salary dispute between Samwu and Salga," the union said in a statement.

Imatu said it had intervened to settle the dispute between the SA Municipal Workers' Union (Samwu) and the SA Local Government Association (Salga).

Imatu said the Samwu strike had been called off "with immediate effect".

The agreement had been reduced to writing and represented a collective agreement of the Bargaining Council.

Imatu said the agreement included that all external legal representation - contracted attorneys and advocates - in disciplinary procedures of municipal employees would be terminated from July 1 2010.

An eight year long dispute with the employers' organisation relating to a municipal wage curve and representing equal pay for equal work at all municipalities in South Africa, had been settled.

"From July 1 2010, new salary scales based on the different categories of municipalities will be implemented," Imatu said.

It said back payment of salaries based on nine months' payment would be due for payment, backdated for nine months from October 1 2010."

- Sapa