Two days off 'not a strike'
Johannesburg waste-collection workers are expected to return to work today after a two-day work stoppage that resulted in piles of uncollected refuse piling up.Waste-management company Pikitup last week said that its workers embarked on an illegal strike but the SA Municipal Workers' Union refuted this."We were never on strike," said union regional deputy chairman Vuyani Singonzo. "Pikitup management is just dramatic. We will be back at work [today]."He said union members did not work on Thursday and Friday because they "absented" themselves to support six shop stewards who are facing disciplinary action. The six have been charged with disrupting job interviews for waste-management workers."The agreement reached in 2013 was that workers would be given permanent employment when their contract expired."The shop stewards wanted to know why management advertised posts externally and conducted interviews when this agreement was in place."He said management was targeting shop stewards for the two-week strike in November, which cost R10-million and caused serious health hazards.Singonzo said the shop stewards were being intimidated and bullied, and that their jobs were on the line.Pikitup was unavailable for comment...
There’s never been a more important time to support independent media.
From World War 1 to present-day cosmopolitan South Africa and beyond, the Sunday Times has been a pillar in covering the stories that matter to you.
For just R80 you can become a premium member (digital access) and support a publication that has played an important political and social role in South Africa for over a century of Sundays. You can cancel anytime.
Already subscribed? Sign in below.
Questions or problems? Email helpdesk@timeslive.co.za or call 0860 52 52 00.