CHAOS reigns in Durban’s CBD as striking municipal workers have blocked off roads disrupting traffic in the CBD, freeways leading into Durban, Pinetown, Electron Road in Springfield and UKZN in Westville.
Workers are currently gathered outside the City Hall and are being addressed by City Manager Sipho Nzuza.
Yesterday, the city released a statement denoucing the behaviour of its staff who have embarked on illegal industrial action.
ALSO READ: Negotiations underway following Durban CBD strike
Nzuza said that while discussions between the city and union officials were underway, workers blockaded roads and other drove trucks laden with rubbish and offloaded them in the CBD, grinding certain businesses to a halt.
“The municipality will take action against employees who were responsible for causing chaos in the city in line with the existing policy prescription. At all times we need to demonstrate that we are not going to tolerate lawlessness. It is unacceptable that whilst we were having discussions with union leaders, some employees were involved in acts of violence. The mere fact that some employees embarked on an illegal strike and used the employer’s resources to force the Municipality to accede to their demands, is completely unacceptable,” said Nzuza.
At the core of protesting workers’ grievances is to have their salar levels elevated from grade 4 to grade 10.
This is what the city did for Umkhonto we Sizwe Military Veterans Association who were promoted to grade 10 within one year of serving as general assistants.
Nzuza said the city had decided to halt the process of engaging fifty-five (55) employees pertaining to task grade 10 to allow a thorough review of this process and to conduct an analysis of the impact of this decision. The review is to be concluded within 30 days.
“After embarking on a painstaking scrutiny, as a city, we have decided to stop the process that led to this debacle. The task team that has been set up by Premier Willies Mchunu and led by MEC Ravi Pillay, is going to review the entire process and circumstances around it with speed. The review process will become consultative in nature and will apply a scientific approach by consulting all the affected employees. It is only then that we can make an informed decision,” said Nzuza.
In the meantime the city has been granted a court interdict to prevent further damage to the City’s infrastructure and sabotage of essential services. “Based on this court interdict, employees are urged to return to work immediately. Furthermore, the city is going to invoke the principle of no work no pay to all employees that are part of an illegal strike,” said Nzuza.
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