City of Ekurhuleni fires 40 workers for ‘preventing collection of waste’

The City of Ekurhuleni has issued a statement noting the axing of 40 workers for “constantly rendering waste collection services mainly in Kempton Park unworkable.”

Why Ekurhuleni fired 40 waste workers

In the statement, the metro revealed that the decision to fire the waste workers came after the workers went on a rampage on Saturday, harassing and assaulting a crew that was collecting waste in the town.

“In that incident, a truck driver and an operator were doused with petrol but managed to escape uninjured before their truck was set alight,” the statement read.

The City of Ekurhuleni also accused the 40 workers of:

• using municipal trucks to prevent vehicles that are used for litter pickers and transfer station employees, from exiting the depot thus disrupting service delivery;
• turning away four waste management trucks from executing rubbish pick-ups; and
• intimidating and harassing private contractors who were busy with refuse removal rounds in another area.

“The perpetrators were not even scheduled to perform functions on 1 February 2020 and their presence at the depot can only be construed to have been for the purposes of disrupting the operations of the employer,” the metro noted.

Why are waste workers boycotting the metro?

The details around the reason behind this attack on the City of Ekurhuleni are a bit sketchy. However, Kempton Express reported that it is believed the workers are disgruntled with the City’s decision to employ private contractors to assist with refuse removal services.

Ward councillor and DA shadow MMC for environmental resources and waste management, Andre Du Plessis, added that talks between the City and the workers have failed.

“There were extensive discussions on Friday between the metro and the appropriate labour forums to resolve disputes related to the fact that the City has been forced to employ the services of outside contractors to assist with the rapidly collapsing waste removal service delivery within large parts of the City, plus curtail the exorbitantly escalating costs of overtime within the waste department,” he said.

The City of Ekurhuleni has doubled down on its decision, stating that it views the conduct of the workers as “rendering their continued employment intolerable.”

“The conduct of these employees is clearly endangering the lives and safety of people in the municipality as well as service providers, and there is a high propensity for the continuation of damages to the property of the municipality and service providers should these persons continue in the service of the municipality,” the statement read.