Date: 2021-10-04 06:25:20
EThekwini City Manager Calls for Water and Waste Water Workers to Return to Work
ETHEKWINI NEWSFLASH
24/04/2019
For Immediate Release
EThekwini City Manager Calls for Water and Waste Water Workers to Return to Work
The City Manager of the eThekwini Municipality, Sipho Nzuza, is urging all workers who have embarked on an industrial action at Water and Waste Water Depots in Pinetown and Springfield, to resume their duties with immediate effect. This after the city has met with the leadership of a trade union and agreed on a comprehensive way forward to resolve employees' grievances.
“I believe in an open door policy and at all times I always ask our employees to follow legitimate internal channels to draw our attention as management to their grievances. This is their city and it does not help anyone to compromise service delivery with these strikes because it is the same communities they hail from that are going to suffer. We need to be civil unceasingly and desist from violent means to solve our problems. We have had a meeting with the leadership of SAMWU and we have agreed to assemble an independent task team that should look at the entire process leading to the appointment to avoid any instability at the workplace” said Nzuza.
Workers are demanding to be elevated to grade 10 they claim MK veterans employed in 2016 were unfairly upgraded to from grade 4. The City is of the view that all HR processes were followed to the letter.
“There are internal HR processes that our employees know that require to be followed in the event they feel there is a need to be re-graded. Workers are discouraged from burning tyres and hindering service delivery as management is committed to finding a solution to the current challenges. It has come to our attention that some of our staff were arrested in Pinetown today. Management has been in contact with SAPS because management understands that we cannot stand on police’s way to discharge their constitutional duties but we have communicated with them. So let’s go back to work and I am humbly requesting” said Nzuza.
The city would like to assure the members of the public that it will do everything in its power to guard against the disruption of service delivery.
ENDS
Issued by the Head of Communications and for Media queries City Spokesperson Msawakhe Mayisela.