Refuse collection set for return to normal

REFUSE workers in Nelson Mandela Bay will be putting in the extra time to ensure rubbish is collected and the city’s streets are clean, it was announced yesterday.

The municipality and its refuse workers have been at loggerheads for weeks over their working conditions, overtime and compensation for working through their lunch and tea breaks.

After they refused to put in extra hours to collect all the kerbside rubbish, it has been piling up, forcing the municipality to hire private companies to finish the job.

Yesterday, mayor Athol Trollip said in a statement they had reached an agreement with the SA Municipal Workers Union (Samwu). He said the workers had agreed to work eighthour days without extra pay for their lunch breaks.

But Samwu regional secretary Mqondisi Nodongwe said they had turned to the Department of Labour to force the municipality to comply with health and safety issues.

“We have reached an agreement with refuse collectors to work the overtime whether we are going to be paid for it or not, because we have realised that some of these managers that are not resolving the matter are using their own private companies to fill the overtime gap,” Nodongwe claimed.

He said they had agreed to complete the work even if it exceeded their working hours and that all rubbish would be collected.