Resident Kevin Morris writes:
We are well into the third week of yet another ‘unlawful’ strike by Pikitup workers. I seem to recall there being four last year, and a similar number the year before! Rotting refuse is piling up across the city of Johannesburg, posing a potential health hazard for all.
Pikitup officials have stated that they are being forced to employ ‘private contractors at a cost of R1 million per day’ to remove some of the accumulated rubbish. They certainly haven’t removed any from the Fourways area during this current strike period.
This got me thinking: Each garbage truck has a driver and about half a dozen bin collectors. Now, if they gave the driver a reasonable salary increase and fired all the bin collectors they would make a substantial saving. Then, the money presently spent on striker’s wages, plus the R1 million per day being paid to private contractors could be far more intelligently employed by purchasing garbage trucks as employed in Australian cities.
These Aussie garbage trucks have remote, mechanical arms that pick up the kerbside bins, deposit the contents into the rear of the vehicle, then return the bins to their exact location on the kerb once emptied. This automation totally negates the use of unreliable human ‘bin collectors’, who inevitably scatter the empty bins up and down suburban roads.
An added bonus is that ‘mechanical arms’ do not go on strike! In one fell sweep, Pikitup would solve two annoying and costly problems and potentially make a far larger profit to boot! If the bin collectors knew that they were are not indispensable, (under the prevailing economic climate in South Africa, they should be damn thankful to be employed at all), then they may not be so easily influenced to strike at every opportunity in the future.
I believe the petrol station industry used this carrot when petrol attendants continually went on strike a few years ago. By threatening to dispense with human attendants and install self-help mechanisms, as seen in the USA and the UK, the petrol industry solved their strike problem and consequently we have not had to be inconvenienced by striking petrol attendants for a good number of years now.
Also read:
Diepsloot residents cry out over increasing rubbish in township
Clean up your communities, Pikitup is letting us down – Johannesburg Mayor
