It doesnt pay to be a pregnant fire fighter in the City of Cape Town
Female fire fighters lose substantial benefits when they fall pregnant as much as 23% of their allowances. The City of Cape Town declares pregnant fire fighters as non-operational during which period they forfeit their allowances. However, non-operational males continue to enjoy their allowances!
This emerged out of a CCMA hearing held on Friday (05/07/2013). The South African Municipal Workers Union (Samwu) is dismayed that the City of Cape Town unashamedly discriminates against female fire fighters.
Samwu declared a dispute against the Democratic Alliance administration when their members complained about this discrimination. "The City of Cape Town professes to be an employer that applies all its policies equally and consistently amongst all staff members. Our investigation revealed that this is not the case in fire services, where females are discriminated against.
Female fire fighters lose up to 22.8% of their allowances when falling pregnant. said Archie Hearne, a Samwu official representing the aggrieved fire fighters. Whats worse, the City is currently exhibiting the life of an iconic South African, Nelson Mandela, who dedicated his life to fighting all forms of discrimination and here we have the City promoting discrimination. We doubt that Tata Mandela would have approved of such discriminatory practices." Hearne continued.
The City is rolling back years of struggle meant to prevent discrimination against women for their child bearing responsibilities. The City claims that their actions are justified in the context of fire fighting work. Samwu dismisses the action of the employer as discriminatory. The Union is now in the process of looking at the possibility of taking the matter to the Labour Court as well as the equality court, in a bid to ensure that the court declares the actions of the City discriminatory.
Statement issued by Samwu organiser Archie Hearne and Samwu Regional Secretary Mikel Khumalo, Cape Town, July 8 2013
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