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Johannesburg - The City of Johannesburg is to approach the Labour Court in Johannesburg for an urgent interdict to stop firefighters from going on an unprotected strike.
Johannesburg emergency management services spokesperson Robert Mulaudzi said on Tuesday that firefighters were an essential service.
"We have applied for an urgent court interdict to stop the unprotected strike because we believe we are running an essential service, so we don't have to disrupt service delivery to the people of Johannesburg," he told News24.
"The matter will be heard in the Labour Court in Johannesburg tomorrow [Wednesday]."
Firefighters in Johannesburg are on a "go slow", demanding overtime for the extra two hours they work per day.
Their demand for overtime has been referred to arbitration, Mulaudzi said on Monday.
In the meantime, in the hours that they don't work, staff who are normally station-bound - such as station commanders, supervisors and managers - are responding to call-outs.
Mulaudzi explained that the firefighters normally worked 48 hours a week, with four-day shifts of two days on and two days off.
To make up the 48 hours, they worked an extra two hours a day.
However, they want to be paid for those extra hours, and are currently only prepared to put in 40 hours a week, unless they are paid overtime for the extra hours.
The dispute had been discussed in a bargaining council, and had been referred for arbitration, Mulaudzi said.
City hopes a solution can be found
Mulaudzi said the city hoped an amicable solution could be found to the dispute.
"We (both) have... the same interests, which is to render effective services to the City of Johannesburg.
"We hope that our communities are the winners. We should be able to reach an amicable solution to the matter without disrupting services."
Earlier this year, two firefighters - Daniel Zwane, 50, and Michael Letsosa, 34 - died in a blaze in the Nedbank Mall basement on Albertina Sisulu Street, Johannesburg, cracking open a list of grievances about firefighters' lack of equipment and working conditions.
At their memorial service, many firefighters turned their backs on officials delivering speeches. An investigation into their deaths was ordered.
To add further woes to the country's firefighting efforts, the organisation Working on Fire's aircraft was grounded last week.
This was after the South African Civil Aviation Authority suspended the organisation’s air operating certificates for failure to comply with legal requirements.
Working on Fire said 14 of their aircraft had been grounded and at least 6 000 people ''on the ground'' were available to assist until the problem was rectified.
