uMngeni-uThukela Water strives to create an environment in which employees feel valued and support the organisation’s values, strategies and priorities. The rights and well-being of all employees are safe-guarded and protected through alignment of corporate policies with relevant legislation and regulations. Specifically, with its unions, NEHAWU and SAMWU, the entity has in place a Collective Agreement that is maintained. Currently, 82% of the total workforce are union members and 78% are within the collective bargaining unit.

Quarterly Union-Management meetings were held in the reporting period, excluding special meetings that were held to provide more timely feedback. The collective agreement serves as the minimum terms of engagement, as the entity is committed to information sharing and to always provide reasonable response to organised labour regarding any significant operational changes that affect employees. During the engagement sessions, management actively engaged labour regarding concerns raised and sought to achieve resolution of issues without any stand-offs. The reconfiguration of the two entities has brought in various dynamics in terms of culture, policies and conditions of service.

Management and organised labour have worked very hard to ensure that the harmonisation of polices and conditions of employment is aligned to ensure the smooth transition.