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Johannesburg - The ANC must intervene in problems municipal workers face or risk losing their votes, the SA Municipal Workers' Union (Samwu) said on Monday.
"We find it impossible to convince our members and the community to do this [vote] until the issues have been resolved," general secretary Mthandeki Nhlapo told reporters during the union's national executive committee meeting in Johannesburg.
He said Samwu took a decision at its 2009 congress to support the ANC, on the premise that the party become "worker friendly".
"This position is becoming increasing unlikely to believe."
The union raised concerns that many issues affecting workers had not been incorporated into the ANC's election manifesto.
"The manifesto continues to provide for the needs of capitalists. We fear that the dire straits of working class communities will continue to be ignored after the election."
The union called on the ANC to intervene in matters affecting municipal workers at their workplaces, or else they would not vote for the ruling party.
The union has been involved in a spate of industrial action in Gauteng recently.
A strike by Samwu-affiliated Metrobus drivers in Johannesburg entered its fourth week on Monday. They were unhappy about changes to their shift rosters.
Over 900 Samwu members were fired following an illegal strike which left one person dead in Pretoria last week.
About 22 Samwu strikers were arrested in Kempton Park on Monday for offences ranging from public violence to intimidation and assault. They went on strike in protest against seven of their shop stewards being fired last month.
Nhlapo said the union was concern that members were being fired for blowing the whistle on corruption, and because of striking.
"We call for a two-hour national stoppage in every municipality, on the day of comrade Msiza's funeral," he said, referring to Tshwane shop steward Petros Msiza, 43, who was killed during clashes with the police in Pretoria last Thursday.
The union called on the ANC to reinstate workers dismissed for participating in the Tshwane strike.
Nhlapo said the union would consult the ANC and Cosatu before the end of the week to table its concerns. If these were not resolved the union threatened to boycott the election.
