Cape Town – Judgment has been reserved in the salary dispute case between the City and firefighters represented by the South African Municipal Workers Union (Samwu) at the Labour Court.
The dispute, which went to court on Wednesday, follows demands by the firefighters that they get compensation for overtime work. They also refused to work outside their normal hours and held protests last year.
City safety and security director Richard Bosman said until a labour court determination, firefighters would honour the terms of the existing collective agreement relating to their 24-hour shifts and standby allowance.
“The court is hearing arguments from the parties involved and will likely only make a determination at some point in the future. Under the current collective agreement that was signed in 2007, unions representing firefighters agreed to work 24-hour shifts that equate to a 56-hour week.
“As this is higher than the regular 40-hour work week, unions further agreed to a 22.8% allowance over and above their basic salary, to account for the additional hours.
“Similar 24-hour shift systems exist across the world and elsewhere in South Africa.
“The majority of firefighters prefer this shift system as it not only gives them a lot of personal time while on duty, but also allows for multiple days off ,” Bosman said.
On average, a firefighter would spend four hours a day responding to fires, with longer hours during peak fire season and fewer operational hours during off-peak fire season, he said.
“The 24-hour shift system is optimal from an operational point of view as shorter shifts compromise effective fire responses.
“We appeal to firefighters to honour
their working conditions until the matter is resolved,” said Bosman.
Firefighter Dumisani Magagula said staff had always been willing to resolve the issue amicably.
“The work we do is almost like a calling, it’s all about sacrifice and commitment. You are away from your family for 24 hours.
"We have always been willing to resolve this issue amicably. The City is dragging, this is concerning because the morale of firefighters is dropping,” he said.
Samwu regional secretary Mike Thomas said the City had confessed in court that the working hours exceeded what was required by the Basic Conditions of Employment Act.
“The City confessed that the working hours of firefighters exceed what is required, that it exceeds what the Basic Conditions of Employment Act states.
“The argument of the City is that after 6pm the firefighters are not working. We dispute this argument - if we are not working at the workplace, what are we doing? We are not moving or backing down on our demands, we are standing still,” he said.
“We want to wait and see what the judgment entails and we are very positive about the arguments that were presented and confident that we will win.”