Durban - The SA Municipal Workers Union has hit back at eThekwini mayor Mxolisi Kaunda for saying that the metro’s workers were lazy.
Kaunda blamed workers for the rapid decline of the city which finds itself on the brink of collapse.
Kaunda had made the comments while doing an interview with a local radio station and he went to defend the comments when asked by Municipal and Trade Union South Africa (Matusa), another union, which called for him to retract.
In his interview, Kaunda accused the workers of frequent absenteeism and late coming
“We have realised that there are people who are lazy and some do not come to work without having applied for leave.
“Besides deducting money from their salaries we are also going to dismiss people. We are no longer talking now, it’s time to act,” Kaunda said.
In a statement on Thursday, Samwu in the Joe Moloisane Region (eThekwini region) said Kaunda should apologise for the utterances and made a long list of demands.
NEWS: Municipal workers union, SAMWU, an affiliate of COSATU which is in alliance with the ANC, has hit back at eThekwini mayor, Mxolisi Kaunda, who recently said the metro’s workers are lazy. The union says Kaunda is political grandstanding and playing to the gallery. @IOL
— Sihle Mavuso (@ZANewsFlash) January 26, 2023
“Samwu will not let such utterances go unchallenged, a responsible leader of a City like eThekwini should have exercised restraint and caution before issuing such statements.
“We believe that such utterances should be taken with a pinch of salt, as they are nothing but political grandstanding and playing to the gallery.
“The facts are that Samwu has in a number of times, raised serious issues with eThekwini Municipality and plead for urgent intervention in solving such.
“Among others, we raised health and safety crisis, where workers are killed at work, some inside municipal buildings.
“Workplace, eThekwini Municipality has become a symbol of the many worker-rights violations.
SAMWU on Mxolisi Kaunda: "In fact, we are convinced that Mr Kaunda is playing to the gallery with the intention of saving his dwindling political career which has obviously reached a cul-de-sac." @IOL
— Sihle Mavuso (@ZANewsFlash) January 26, 2023
“It is time we demand that as a union, we place all worker challenges on the agenda for non-compliant on health and suafety issues.
“Workers of the municipality have suffered enough through non-production of personal protective equipment (PPE), non-payment of Group Life, killings at workplace, unfair payment of leave encashment, non-payment of performance allowance, indefinite acting, lack of resources such as (trucks, equipment) arrogance of some senior management, wage curve (category 10), insourcing of (entities, security and EPWP) to mention a few.
“Instead of addressing these issues faced by workers and also thanking municipal workers for ensuring that they continue delivering services to residents of the city, particularly during the pandemic, the mayor decided to repay workers by insulting them. It is our strong belief as Samwu that the city does not care about the employees.
“In fact, we are convinced that Mr Kaunda is playing to the gallery with the intention of saving his dwindling political career which has obviously reached a cul-de-sac,” the union said.
Furthermore, workers through Samwu workplace visit programs raised issues with Kaunda and they were never addressed.
“Some of the immediate areas visited are City Fleet, Metro Police and we identified that workers are unable to effectively execute their duties due to lack of resources, such as tools and spares.
“At Metro Police, we identified that from 2013 the employer consistently failed to provide uniforms to members, some of them ended buying uniform from their pockets, some have been issuing fines on vehicles while not wearing their uniform which is illegal according to National Road Traffic Act,” the union claimed.
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