Cape Town – Firefighters said they would not be intimidated by suspension letters handed to some employees, adding that they believed the City was using “bully tactics” to divide workers after they left work at 4.30pm on Tuesday resulting in the closures of several fire stations.
This comes after overtime pay negotiations with the City reached a deadlock, resulting in the SA Municipal Workers Union saying their members would only be working eight hours a day as per their employment contract and the Basic Conditions of Employment Act.
The City yesterday would not confirm how many suspension letters had been distributed, how many fire stations were affected or what the status of negotiations was.
The executive director for safety and security, Richard Bosman, said: “The City can confirm that there were fire stations that were affected in terms of staffing numbers when Samwu members heeded the call not to work standby hours.
“However, as indicated earlier this week the City has contingency plans in place and these were implemented to ensure continued service delivery.
“The City’s Fire Service can confirm that it has started issuing letters of provisional suspension.”
The City has an overall firefighting staff complement of more than 900, with a minimum of 240 firefighters on duty at the 30 fire stations across the metropole.
Samwu regional secretary-general Xolile Ncayo said 24 stations were closed.
“We will challenge these suspension letters tooth and nail. What the City is doing is playing a dirty game to frighten our members, to stop doing what basic conditions of employment prescribe unless there are further negotiations.
“This is a plan to divide and rule, as they have only targeted a few individuals, saying that they have instigated others to stop working standby, which is not true. As a union, we had several meetings with our members and reached a decision because people are tired of being exploited,” he said.
Ncayo added that firefighters were expected to remain at work for 24 hours in case of emergencies, but were only remunerated for eight hours a day.
“The City is refusing to pay them for those 24 hours. They only pay them for eight hours, because they say the rest of those hours they are doing nothing,” Ncayo said.
Firefighters would continue working eight hours a day until an agreement was reached with the City regarding remuneration for standby hours, he said.