Provincial traffic officers have stopped overtime duties following a long-running dispute with the department of transport over outstanding payments.
Traffic officers in Nelson Mandela Bay, Cacadu, Amathole, OR Tambo, Alfred Nzo and Chris Hani district municipalities say they are owed between three to four months’ overtime.
Public Servants Association shop steward Christopher Plaatjies said the decision to no longer work overtime was taken at a meeting at the Wilsonia Traffic Department on Monday.
“We’ve decided that we won’t work overtime anymore until our overtime money is paid in full. There will be no late shifts, no stand-bys, no escorts of VIPs and no emergency shifts over weekends. We will only work from Monday to Friday.”
Normal provincial traffic officials shifts are 6am to 2pm and 2pm to 10pm Monday to Friday. The group has accused the department of transport of playing the blame-game by allegedly telling them that the fault lay with provincial treasury.
“We told them that we don’t work for the treasury but the department of transport.”
Plaatjies said traffic officers would not be available to control flow of traffic during special duties like funerals, sport and school functions usually held over the weekends.
He said officers were yet to receive overtime money for the late Reverend Makhenkesi Stofile’s funeral.
According to government regulations, overtime money should not exceed 30% of an employee’s monthly salary.
The traffic officers, however, have rejected this rule, saying they could not be compared with other public servants because they frequently worked long, irregular hours.
Other services expected to be affected by the stayaway, included standbys at events including concerts, sport tournaments and funerals, and road blocks and drunken driving awareness campaigns.
The group accused the department of transport of defying premier Phumulo Masualle by not paying them their money. Masualle last week urged his cabinet to make sure public servants were paid all their outstanding money.
In a brief telephone interview with the Dispatch on Tuesday, Masualle’s spokesman Sizwe Kupelo said: “The premier made that statement because each time he meets with unions he gets complaints about issues of unpaid benefits so he instructed the directors to fast- track the process of paying the outstanding money but stressed that it must be done on merit”.
The department of transport was not available for comment. In a WhatsApp message spokeswoman Ntombizomzi Bala said: “The whole of our management was attending a hearing at provincial treasury”.
Traffic officers end overtime
Traffic officers in Nelson Mandela Bay, Cacadu, Amathole, OR Tambo, Alfred Nzo and Chris Hani district municipalities say they are owed between three to four months’ overtime.
Public Servants Association shop steward Christopher Plaatjies said the decision to no longer work overtime was taken at a meeting at the Wilsonia Traffic Department on Monday.
“We’ve decided that we won’t work overtime anymore until our overtime money is paid in full. There will be no late shifts, no stand-bys, no escorts of VIPs and no emergency shifts over weekends. We will only work from Monday to Friday.”
Normal provincial traffic officials shifts are 6am to 2pm and 2pm to 10pm Monday to Friday. The group has accused the department of transport of playing the blame-game by allegedly telling them that the fault lay with provincial treasury.
“We told them that we don’t work for the treasury but the department of transport.”
Plaatjies said traffic officers would not be available to control flow of traffic during special duties like funerals, sport and school functions usually held over the weekends.
He said officers were yet to receive overtime money for the late Reverend Makhenkesi Stofile’s funeral.
According to government regulations, overtime money should not exceed 30% of an employee’s monthly salary.
The traffic officers, however, have rejected this rule, saying they could not be compared with other public servants because they frequently worked long, irregular hours.
Other services expected to be affected by the stayaway, included standbys at events including concerts, sport tournaments and funerals, and road blocks and drunken driving awareness campaigns.
The group accused the department of transport of defying premier Phumulo Masualle by not paying them their money. Masualle last week urged his cabinet to make sure public servants were paid all their outstanding money.
In a brief telephone interview with the Dispatch on Tuesday, Masualle’s spokesman Sizwe Kupelo said: “The premier made that statement because each time he meets with unions he gets complaints about issues of unpaid benefits so he instructed the directors to fast- track the process of paying the outstanding money but stressed that it must be done on merit”.
The department of transport was not available for comment. In a WhatsApp message spokeswoman Ntombizomzi Bala said: “The whole of our management was attending a hearing at provincial treasury”.
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