Durban - Councillors in eThekwini Municipality have said workers in the water unit who have embarked on a go-slow that left hundreds of residents without water, are “holding the city to ransom”.
The city is engaging with workers who have either downed tools or embarked on a go-slow over the reduction in the number of overtime hours they are allowed to work.
Mayor Mxolisi Kaunda said yesterday that the workers should distinguish between a right and a privilege, saying overtime pay was a privilege.
He said that through the city’s engagement with labour unions, they had learnt the workers were demanding overtime pay as well as bonuses.
During the executive committee meeting yesterday, councillors expressed concerns that the city was now being held to ransom by the workers.
The Mercury reported earlier that the water unit’s overtime budget was exhausted, four months into the financial year, and it would need another R50 million to fund its overtime needs.
Kaunda said during the Exco meeting: “We meet after a difficult weekend in the municipality where thousands of households were deprived of basic services because some of our employees embarked on a wildcat strike demanding overtime.
“As a result, our residents were unable to access some of the most basic services like water and electricity.
“We must state categorically that we will not tolerate such irresponsible behaviour. Thus, we wish to apologise to the affected communities for the inconvenience caused.
“Furthermore, we have asked the acting city manager to implement consequence management for all employees who are implicated.
“We want to make it clear that overtime is not a right but a privilege and therefore the city is not going to be held to ransom by employees who undermine the rule of law,” said Kaunda.
Kaunda said the city was steadfast in sticking to the law when it came to overtime and workers could work up to the maximum of 40 hours a month.
“The problem is that workers are planning their expenses around their overtime. That should not be the case. Your expenses must be (planned) around your salary, as the overtime is a privilege.
“They are also demanding bonuses but we have said we do not have the money,” said Kaunda, pointing out that labour has found such a response unacceptable.
DA councillor Thabani Mthethwa said the city was being held to ransom and needed to deal decisively with the workers taking part in the go-slow.
“This started in the Durban Solid Waste unit and we were told that it would be spreading to the other units.
“We were told that the workers will be dealt with and we have not heard what happened,” said Mthethwa.