Workers at the Avon Power peaking plant were fired last week after going on strike about overtime working conditions.
About 1100 workers of Group Five Structured Ingenuity at the power plant’s construction site, near Shakaskraal, received a notice of termination of their contracts on July 29.
The notice stated that workers refused to work overtime and remained on their unprotected strike and will only be paid up to July 28.
Representing the workers, Siyabonga Sokhulu, said they have not engaged themselves in any strike.
“They said we must work from 7am to 7pm and we refused because we were already working overtime of one hour and a half,” said Sokhulu.
He said there will be no transport for them after 7pm and the company is not prepared to provide us with transport,” said Sokhulu.
He said they have a pending case with their employer at the CCMA that will be heard on August 6.
Executive director of human resources at Group Five, Jesse Doorasamy, said the strike affected around 800 employees on site in both the metal and civil engineering industries. He said they were locked in negotiations with the African Mining and Construction Union (AMCU).
“A labour court interdict issued on July 22 declared the strike unprotected and employees continued with their refusal to work in accordance with their contracts of employment,” said Doorasamy.
According to the Basic Conditions of Employment Act of 1997, no employer shall require an employee who works more than five days a week to work more than eight hours a day.
While overtime is not compulsory, employees can refuse to work overtime on short notice, unless the employee signed a contract to the contrary. In circumstances where overtime work on short notice is required by the employer, fairness towards the employee must be taken into consideration.
