eThekwini workers threaten legal action over pay-category dispute - IOL

WORKERS in the eThekwini Municipality have vowed to take their fight for “fair pay” all the way to the Constitutional Court.

The city’s workers are demanding to be paid in line with the municipality’s metro category. Last Friday, municipal employees marched to the city, and another march is planned for this Thursday.

At the centre of their demands is the recognition of the eThekwini municipality as a Category 10 municipality, while workers continue to receive salaries based on Category 8. The category refers to the size of a municipality. The largest local municipality is Grade 7.

The size of municipalities is determined by the services they provide. For instance, if a municipality does not provide electricity or water but later begins providing those services, it may be graded higher.

Metropolitan municipalities are the largest municipalities in the country. They provide almost every service and are responsible for larger areas.

City workers, speaking on condition of anonymity, said they had marched last week and planned to march again this week as they sought to intensify their campaign to force the municipality to pay them according to the appropriate category.

One worker explained that employees had been waiting for years for their salaries to be upgraded to the appropriate municipal category.

“This should have been implemented nearly 15 years ago, but we have been waiting since then, with no progress. All city workers should be paid according to the category of the municipality, which is a metro. Some of the people who should have benefited have either resigned or died,” the worker said.

The worker added: “This is a metro. It is in an economically active city and, like workers in all other metros, we should be paid at the rates applicable to those municipalities.

“The previous commitment made to us was that an agreement had been reached and that salaries would be adjusted by the end of August, but nothing has happened. That is why we decided to take action and march."

He said the issue had been ongoing for some time and that negotiations had taken place, but workers had not been properly briefed on the progress.

He said workers had been told that overtime would be cut by 50% and that they could lose bonuses usually paid in December. In return, they were allegedly promised a top-up of R3 000.

“We have not received that top-up, so the workers are taking action,” the worker said.

The worker warned that they would take legal action if the protests failed to deliver results.

“We marched last Friday and we are marching again this Thursday. If that fails, we will take the matter to the CCMA. If we fail there, we will approach the Labour Court and, if necessary, take the matter all the way to the Constitutional Court,” he warned.

“We have not been told what is causing the delays. The municipality has not clarified whether the delays are related to budget constraints,” the worker said.

Queen Mbatha, leader of the Independent Municipal and Allied Trade Union (IMATU), said the matter was complicated and needed to be handled with care.

She said she was aware of the frustration among union members, which had led some city workers to decide to march to the municipality. However, Mbatha said the issue was not the result of delays by the municipality but was being handled at national level.

“The matter has been the subject of negotiations at national level. Negotiations have been concluded and the facilitator’s proposals have been issued to the parties. IMATU is analysing the facilitator’s proposals and will communicate with the regions in due course.”

eThekwini Municipality’s marketing and communications spokesperson, Senzelwe Mzila, said the city would not comment on the issue.

“The eThekwini Municipality does not engage in labour-relations matters through the media. Such matters are governed by applicable labour legislation, including the Labour Relations Act and collective agreements concluded through the South African Local Government Bargaining Council (SALGBC). As such, these matters are addressed through the appropriate statutory platforms rather than through the media.”