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The Independent Municipal and Allied Trade Union (IMATU) is elated to confirm that it has secured the conversion of 1 000 fixed term contract (FTC) employees topermanent employment at the City of Joburg.

After the City of Joburg began restructuring in 2002, a large number of employees were employed on FTC. Employees on FTC generally have no job security and often have limited or no access to benefits enjoyed by permanent employees. Moreover, the practise of employing persons on fixed term contracts has a negative impact on continuity, institutional memory, capacity building and effective service delivery as employees are constantly replaced,? explained IMATU Deputy General Secretary, Craig Adams.

IMATU has been at the forefront of the fight to eradicate FTC in Local Government, starting in the City of Cape Town in 2007, where the union was instrumental in converting approximately 2500 FTC employees to permanent employment. On Friday, 28 September 2012 IMATU leaders signed the Agreement on the Conversion of Fixed Term Employees in City of Joburg, this Agreement will ensure 1000 workers are permanently employed. On the back of this latest victory, IMATU intends to eliminate FTC throughout the entire Local Government Sector in a court action against the South African Local Government Association (SALGA) in November 2012 to enforce a previous Settlement Agreement, which compels all municipalities to appoint all their employees on permanent contracts.

This is a good example of what can be achieved when Organised Labour and Local Government work together. This Agreement not only deals with the conversion of current FTC workers to permanence, but it also ensures that permanent appointments will be the general form of employment in the City of Johannesburg going forward,? stated Adams.

IMATU will continue to fight against all forms of atypical employment in order to promote the principles of decent work, which should be enjoyed by all South Africanworkers.