The 130 City of Johannesburg employees who are under the threat of having their contracts terminated at the end of the month said on Monday they have referred their battle to remain employees to the South African Local Government Bargaining Council (SALGBC) for arbitration.
On Friday, the labour court interdicted the city from implementing a council resolution taken in February — to terminate the contracts of the employees — pending the determination of the dispute referred to by the employees last month.
The employees said after the court ruling on Friday that the SALGBC had erroneously ruled on the issue of jurisdiction, and not on the merits of the employment contracts with the city.
The employees said the SALGBC, accordingly, had made an erroneous ruling of dismissal based on jurisdiction.
“A conciliator cannot make such rulings,” the employees said.
The employees said their lawyers on Monday referred the matter for arbitration at the SALGBC to correctly ventilate the matter on its merits.
“As the matter is now formally before arbitration, which is in accordance with the labour court judgment on Friday, the affected employees urge the city to comply with the court order and not be in contempt.”
The employees who approached the court are employed across various departments by the city, including the office of the chief whip, the office of the mayor and the caucuses of the parties represented on the council.
They work as drivers, office managers, researchers and assistant directors and fulfil their duties irrespective of which political party is in power.
They were initially employed on fixed-term contracts. However, on March 1 2021, after a decision by the mayoral committee taken on February 25 2021, they received notices that their fixed-term contracts were to be converted to an indefinite term, meaning they became full-time employees.
However, on February 25 this year, the council rescinded the 2021 decision to employ them permanently. It decided to convert their employment to a fixed term that would terminate on April 30 this year.
The employees want the municipality to be ordered to return the original conditions of employment status to that of permanent as signed between employer and employees in February 2021.
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130 Joburg workers refer dispute to arbitrator, tell city to respect court order
Image: 123RF/STOCKSTUDIO44
The 130 City of Johannesburg employees who are under the threat of having their contracts terminated at the end of the month said on Monday they have referred their battle to remain employees to the South African Local Government Bargaining Council (SALGBC) for arbitration.
On Friday, the labour court interdicted the city from implementing a council resolution taken in February — to terminate the contracts of the employees — pending the determination of the dispute referred to by the employees last month.
The employees said after the court ruling on Friday that the SALGBC had erroneously ruled on the issue of jurisdiction, and not on the merits of the employment contracts with the city.
The employees said the SALGBC, accordingly, had made an erroneous ruling of dismissal based on jurisdiction.
“A conciliator cannot make such rulings,” the employees said.
The employees said their lawyers on Monday referred the matter for arbitration at the SALGBC to correctly ventilate the matter on its merits.
“As the matter is now formally before arbitration, which is in accordance with the labour court judgment on Friday, the affected employees urge the city to comply with the court order and not be in contempt.”
The employees who approached the court are employed across various departments by the city, including the office of the chief whip, the office of the mayor and the caucuses of the parties represented on the council.
They work as drivers, office managers, researchers and assistant directors and fulfil their duties irrespective of which political party is in power.
They were initially employed on fixed-term contracts. However, on March 1 2021, after a decision by the mayoral committee taken on February 25 2021, they received notices that their fixed-term contracts were to be converted to an indefinite term, meaning they became full-time employees.
However, on February 25 this year, the council rescinded the 2021 decision to employ them permanently. It decided to convert their employment to a fixed term that would terminate on April 30 this year.
The employees want the municipality to be ordered to return the original conditions of employment status to that of permanent as signed between employer and employees in February 2021.
TimesLIVE
Support independent journalism by subscribing to the Sunday Times. Just R20 for the first month.
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