Rand Water would be approaching the Labour Court in Johannesburg on Thursday to stop the South African Municipal Workers Union (Samwu) from embarking on a strike at the water utility, the union said.

”The application for the interdict is set to be heard on Thursday in the Labour Court in Braamfontein,” said Samwu’s collective bargaining officer Chumani Gqeke.

”We believe that Rand Water is wasting its time and money in taking this matter to court, the simple solution is to concede to the demands of workers…we will defend our right to go on strike.”

Samwu, the biggest union at Rand Water, would embark on a strike this week it served Rand Water with a notice to embark on a strike on Monday.

The union has demanded a 10% increase for lowest paid workers, nine% for middle income workers and eight% for supervisors. It also demanded a 12% incentive bonus and R2 150 housing allowance across the board.

Rand Water revised its offer to a seven% wage increase from an initial six%. The strike would affect water supply in Gauteng and some parts of Mpumalanga.

Gqeke criticised Minister of Water and Sanitation, Nomvula Mokonyane after she called on the two parties to resolve their dispute and avoid a strike.

Gqeke said: ”Her intervention however seems to be directed at crafting a plan that will minimise the impact of the strike and not solving the problems faced by workers at the utility. We urge the minister, as the shareholder of Rand Water on behalf of citizens, to instruct the board to ensure that workers’ demands are met, otherwise the only solution would be a full blown industrial action.”

In July, Samwu announced that it had concluded wage agreements with three other water boards. These were Amatole Water in the Eastern Cape, Bloem Water in the Free State and water supply specialists, Water Solutions Southern Africa (WSSA) that supplies water and sanitation services to municipalities, industries and mines in southern African.