The City of Joburg, which is letting go some 130 employees whose fixed-term contracts expire at the weekend, moved swiftly Monday to allay fears that all affected staffers would not get paid this month.
The alarm was raised when some affected City of Joburg staffers complained their payslips reflected zero earnings.
Responding to queries from The Bulrushes, McKinnley Mitchell, Deputy Director: Communications and Stakeholder Management at the City of Joburg, said: “We are only aware of two employees whose payslips reflected a zero amount, due to their settlement of outstanding debts with the City”.
Mitchell added: “We encourage all employees to first engage internally with HR officials to resolve their issues before approaching the media.”
He said the employees “receiving a R0 Net Pay for April 2022” had “Subsidised Education debt”.
Employees whose fixed-term contracts were converted to permanent positions are in a quagmire.
The City has rescinded their permanent appointments and placed them back on fixed-term contracts that end on 30 April 2022.
A Labour Court interdict secured by South African Municipal Workers Union on Friday to stop the rescinding of the permanent jobs, was overtaken by events after the reason it was granted fell away.
Judge of the Labour Court Connie Prinsloo had earlier ruled that pending the determination by the South African Local Bargaining Council (SALGBC) of the dispute referred by the applicants under case number JMD032207, the respondents (City of Joburg) were “interdicted and restrained”.
However, a few hours later, the City of Joburg announced that SALGBC had reached a decision that confirmed the conversion of the fixed-term contracts to permanent employment was unlawful.
The City said the bargaining council’s decision means that the interdict of the Labour Court falls away.
“Therefore, the City will proceed with the regularisation of contracts that will lapse at the end of this month,” said a statement issued by Councillor Leah Knot, Member of the Mayoral Committee for Group Corporate and Shared Services.
