Cape Town – Overtime pay disputes between the City and its firefighters have been coming for the past two years, the City says.
The SA Municipal Workers Union (Samwu) has accused the City of paying firefighters the incorrect overtime amount. As a result, Samwu members have threatened to only work their contractual hours from 8am until 4pm from October.
According to the union, its members are being paid for a 160-hour month, but on average they worked 240 hours a month, and were not being compensated for the 80 hours overtime they clocked.
The City’s executive director for safety and security Richard Bosman yesterday said the overtime dispute had been coming for the past two years.
“There was a voluntary mediation process embarked upon by the City and trade unions last year and the parties could not reach a consensus. We are engaging with Samwu’s attorneys in an effort to resolve this.
“In the interim, we are exploring options to ensure service delivery continuity. The notice given by Samwu does not affect all staff members,” said Bosman.
Bosman said staff currently worked a 56-hour week, for which they were paid a 22.8% allowance on their basic salary, which covered weekly hours in excess of 40 hours.
Anything over the 56-hour week is paid at overtime rates, Bosman said.
On Friday firefighters gathered at the Woodstock fire station with Samwu, agreeing not to work any more than the 40-hour week they are contracted to.
According to the union, standard overtime is supposed to be 150% times the normal hourly rate, but the firefighters only see a fraction of this, at 12.8% of their hourly rate.
Samwu regional secretary Xolile Ncayo said: “The 240 hours a month remain the key problem. We turned to the bargaining council to resolve the matter last year and the engagement was unsuccessful.
“We are not asking for a wage increase but the City is exploiting our workers who place their lives on the line each and every day.
“The ball is now in the City’s court to engage us,” Ncayo said.
Ncayo said the union and its members were committed to delivering services, as was evident in their reaction time to fires that occurred at the weekend, including the Mitchell’s Plain Day Hospital, and the Tygerberg Hospital fires.
From November last year until February, the City’s Fire and Rescue Service responded to 13483 fire incidents.
A 24-year-old firefighter, asking that his name be withheld, said: “Last year in November, we were about to embark on the same stance.
“However, for the love and commitment we have for our community we chose not to, having the mindset that the employer would listen to our concerns.
“Regrettably, they never moved an inch.
“They even disagree with us on our hours and say we only work 56 hours a week but are unwilling to compensate us for those 16 hours.”