Disgruntled Durban municipality workers brought the city's CBD to a standstill on Wednesday morning‚ demanding more overtime.
The workers used yellow municipal trucks to block areas around City Hall‚ particularly Dr Pixley kaIsaka Seme Street (formerly West Street) and Anton Lembede Road (formerly Smith Street) as part of their protest action.
According to metro police sources‚ the protest started in Umlazi‚ south of Durban‚ where drivers blockaded the M4 freeway by driving slowly across all three lanes as they moved towards the city centre.
At least 10 vehicles were involved in the protest. One person has been arrested for failing to comply with police orders.
The drivers were set to meet with municipal manager Sibusiso Sithole on Wednesday to resolve issues about overtime.
Sithole told TMG Digital that the drivers‚ seemingly from the municipality's engineering department‚ were reportedly unhappy with the municipality's plans to severely cut back on overtime‚ which was one of the austerity measures being pushed by National Treasury.
Currently‚ Saturday shifts are rostered to ensure overtime is evenly spread‚ and Sunday shifts are only done during emergencies - but even these are going to be limited.
Sithole said: "They want to work more overtime. If you work on a Sunday you get double-pay. This is one of the measures that we must review and we must cut costs to avoid unneccessary overtime. [Their demands] are part and parcel of people living beyond their means and hoping they can recover it through overtime." – TMG Digital/Sunday Times
