Durban — Staff in the Durban Solid Waste (DSW) unit marched to the city hall on Wednesday to submit their grievances after the eThekwini Municipality cut their overtime.
Their main concern was that they were essential workers but were not treated as such. The staff revealed that some DSW workers in other districts were paid more than them, yet they did the same job and sometimes more.
A worker who asked not to be named said they were supposed to get a danger allowance because they worked under harsh conditions and their health was at stake, but claimed they did not get it.
“We are on the pay grade 03 while some workers are on the pay grade 10, but we do the same thing. It is unreasonable. On top of that, they cut our overtime. They are taking the bread from our mouths, bit by bit,” he said.
He further outlined that they were supposed to get a Covid-19 allowance because their hygiene was compromised a number of times. He claimed they did not receive it while other provinces and districts did – and felt this was unfair.
Xolani Dube, of the South African Municipal Workers’ Union, tried to calm the workers by telling them that everything was going to be sorted out.
“The overtime was cut by the employer and we are here to negotiate since you came to us for advice. You need to know we are on your side and we will never sell you out but you also need to listen to us with reasoning,” said Dube as they were about to go negotiate the workers’ demands at the city hall.
eThekwini deputy mayor Philani Mavundla argued that he was not deputy mayor when the problems started, but he would ensure the matter was attended to.
He urged the workers to return to their posts while their leadership engaged with him.
“It is also important to raise issues but not personalise them, so it is wrong to attack me as an individual. We know that picketing is legal especially when you are not happy about certain things but we must do things in a correct manner.
“We recognise your leadership and we are saying that we must speak to them and then allow them to bring back the response to you on Thursday,” said Mavundla.
He told the Daily News that he was shocked to discover that the city owed DSW more than R500 million for overtime.
He said that he had spoken to the leaders of the workers to cut it by 50% and ensured that more people were employed to assist in cleaning the city.
“We have many unemployed young people that we must bring in to ensure we don’t end up paying billions of rand to fewer employees that are working overtime.
“This money could create employment for our people, and help us remove the rubbish. We have tried to provide all support including more vehicles for our drivers so that we are able to keep eThekwini clean,” he said.
Daily News