A recent municipal strike spearheaded by solid waste department employees was driven by disputes over overtime payments that exceeded basic monthly salaries, according to a Labour Court filing. In the Labour Court filing dated July 7, the municipality stated that solid waste employees earned overtime equal to 118% of the department’s entire basic salary budget. The solid waste department has 204 employees across its cleansing cost centres, including drivers, machine operators, foremen, supervisors, artisan assistants and general refuse collectors.
In the filing, the municipality said it identified 16 employees behind the go-slow embarked on since December. The employees were served with precautionary suspension letters, resulting in the week-long strike, which started on June 29. In May, the municipality paid out R3.6m in basic salaries.
Overtime payments in May were R2.9m alongside Sunday-time pay of R1.4m. The combined overtime for May totalled R4.3m, a sum equal to approximately 118% of the entire basic salary bill. Since December, employees pushed back against the use of leased compactor trucks, following almost an entire fleet collapse due to natural attrition.
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The municipality decided to lease seven refuse compactors on a full-maintenance lease, rather than purchasing the necessary fleet, which would have set the municipality back by R42m. The lease tallied R22.6m at roughly R21 000 per day, with a saving of R19.7m.
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