IMG 20240523 WA0009
Picture Courtesy: (ENCA) Casual workers protest, demanding the waste management company hire them as permanent employees.
The workers claim that they have been working for the waste management company, cleaning the streets of Johannesburg while earning as little as R120 to R150 daily, and they also claim that the waste management company’s HR has unfair policies.
According to the workers, the waste company has advertised jobs to the public while they have been working on contracts since October last year. The workers also said that it has come to their attention that counsellors and shop stewards have been giving employment to their family members.
The protest began last Thursday, May 16, and it has prevented the waste company from picking up trash in the city and left only two of the 12 depots operational across the city. According to Pickitup, its services were disrupted by the casual workers who are demanding permanent employment from the company, as their contracts are due to expire. In a media statement, Pickitup stated that they deployed their senior management to visit the 10 affected depots, engage with the workers, and remind them that the company will indeed enforce the principle of ‘no work, no pay’.
Pickitup spokesperson Muzi Mkhwanazi said that it is important that he clarifies that Pick it up employees are not the ones involved in the strike; however, casual employees are the ones participating in this protest action. With that said the unions that the waste company recognizes are not on strike.
The protesters blocked depot entrances, preventing waste trucks from entering and dumping waste. Pick it up had deployed the Public Order Policing units to clear protesters that were blocking depot entrances and to allow waste trucks to dump the waste and continue collecting the waste from all areas of the city.
According to Mkhwanazi, the waste company is dedicated to interacting with the representatives of the protesters to come up with a cooperative solution.
He assured residents that the waste company is making efforts to restore waste collection services. While Pick it up tries to resolve the matter, Mkhwanazi encouraged residents in affected areas to dump their waste at Pickitup’s integrated waste facilities.
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