Letter: Municipal worker reveals damning information on colleagues

Madam – I totally agree with the writer of the article, “Why does municipality cut cost on service delivery and not lazy workers’ salaries”.

However, I am also a municipal worker and can see a lot happening inside. The workers coming and going is so obvious. But where they go to, I really cannot say.

If there was a way they could be confronted of their coming and going, the obvious excuse will be either they went to a meeting or went to another department for documents or anything they can quickly think of that is work related.

But when I am on leave, and take a day to go to the Newcastle Mall, I will find a lot of colleagues walking in the mall with parcels. Then it is not even lunch time yet. I don’t want to come forward in informing management of personnel browsing and shopping in working hours, for I can lose my job.

And sometimes the management also do shopping in working hours, so what will the result be if you try to report a colleague but management is also doing the exact same thing. There is no way this matter can be resolved for a lot of the municipal workers are cunning and dishonest.

It will take a clever person to catch these people in the act and to have supporting evidence to have a case against these culprits. Mr Mayor you will have to monitor all employees very closely to cut their working hours in a legal way.

Then they might realise that you get paid by being at work and doing your work than to steal money for being at work but not working at all, instead doing shopping and doing private stuff in working hours.

What the phone calls are concerned, I think all employees must pay for private calls which might be monitored. If a call is more than a substantial time, then that must be deducted from the salary of the employee.

It is the only way expenses can be covered that office personnel create without thinking and realizing. For they have been working in such a comfortable area that they do as they please and don’t care what loss they are actually causing their employer. I will gladly pay for my personal calls, for I know it is an expense that I created and must take responsibility for it.

The municipality might have to think about obtaining personnel identification cards, with a tracking system. It might be the only way to catch thieving municipal employees.

Anonymous