24 August 2023
The City of Tshwane has begun the arduous process of analysing attendance registers to identify employees who are not on strike, but who do not perform their day-to-day duties.
A cursory glance at the attendance registers has shown a pattern where employees sign in and out in the morning and afternoon, respectively, but then disappear or do not execute their functions. The work in respect of service interruptions, such as water leaks, burst pipes, waste collection and electricity outages, is then primarily carried out by service providers.
After initially observing this disturbing pattern in Regions 1, 3, 4, 6 and 7, the City’s leadership resolved to broaden the task of analysing the attendance registers across all the seven regions of Tshwane to identify employees who are physically at work, but who do not do the work for which they get paid.
This task will culminate in the salaries of the affected employees being stopped and/or docked on a pro rata basis. The consequence of employees being at work but not executing their duties is that the City incurs extra costs by paying contractors in addition to employee salaries, which constitutes fruitless and wasteful expenditure.
Hundreds of employees have already been identified to be reporting for duty, but not doing any work. An employee who withholds their labour is considered to still be on strike.
City Manager Johann Mettler has implored employees to return to work and carry out their duties as per the contractual obligations of their employment.
“We will meticulously analyse the attendance registers with a fine-tooth comb, and where we find that employees have been truant or committed fraud, we will stop their salaries without any hesitation”, a fuming Mettler said.
On 24 July 2023, employees affiliated to trade union SAMWU embarked on a strike over the City’s unaffordability to pay the salary and wage increases in line with the collective agreement signed three years ago with the labour unions. The City approached the Labour Court to interdict the strike, and the court granted the City an interim interdict declaring the strike unlawful and unprotected.
The interim interdict ordered employees to return to work, not to intimidate their colleagues and not to damage any property.
On 9 August 2023, SAMWU leadership issued a communiqué to its members instructing them to return to work and execute their duties.
There are pockets of employees who have either refused to return to work or who have returned but continue to withhold their labour. Consequence management will be instituted against them, which includes stopping their salaries.
To date, 122 employees have been dismissed from the employ of the City and their salaries stopped for participating in the unprotected strike. The City will continue to implement the no work, no pay principle.
Meanwhile, the City met with the labour unions SAMWU and IMATU at the South African Local Government Bargaining Council (SALGBC) yesterday. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the non-payment of the wage and salary increase dispute.
On 10 August 2023, the City made an application to the SALGBC to be exempted from complying with the Salary and Wage Collective Agreement on the grounds that it cannot afford to pay the increases.
However, at the hearing, SAMWU raised points in limine (a process that addresses the technical legal points that are raised prior to getting into the merits of the case and relates to matters of jurisdiction). The presiding officer dismissed the objections raised by SAMWU and rescheduled the exemption application argument to 30 August 2023.
Issued by Communication, Marketing and Events.