Hundreds of workers affiliated to the National Union of Public Service and Allied Workers (NUPSAW) marched to the Gauteng Department of Health last week, demanding that those who had been employed under the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP), among others, be employed permanently by the Health Department.
Some, like cleaners, have been EPWP workers for more than seven years, and earn just R3 200 a month, reports GroundUp.
In March, workers protested and occupied the Health Department’s office, demanding that a notice to terminate the contracts of EPWP workers be rescinded. The department then extended the contracts by a year.
NUPSAW, however, wants workers whose contracts are continuously being renewed to be made permanent, and has accused the department of breaching the Labour Relations Act for failing to do this. Most EPWP workers have been working for the department on contract since 2010.
The Public Health and Social Development Sectoral Bargaining Council had appointed a commissioner to preside over the matter. NUPSAW said it was waiting for the outcome from Council on whether contracted workers should be considered as permanent employees.
Sibonile Jeza, NUPSAW national organiser, said a new date for the arbitration would have to be announced because the commissioner who was appointed withdrew from the case, and expressed concern that the person appointed was a junior commissioner with no experience.
Jeza said the department has agreed to meet union representatives on the 12 and 13 October in a bid to settle the matter.
GroundUp article – Give us jobs, chant hundreds of Gauteng workers (Creative Commons Licence)
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
Failed bid to have 47,000 community health workers made permanent employees
Third year of Gauteng Health irregularly extending R675m in contracts
Gauteng community healthcare workers strike over permanent jobs
Gauteng hospital contracts extended despite irregularities