Police used stun grenades and a water cannon to disperse members of the National Education Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu) who had marched to parliament to deliver a list of demands related to personal protective equipment (PPE) and better wages. According to a Business Day report, Nehawu, the country’s third-largest public sector union, which represents 108,000 health-care workers, gave the government an ultimatum: respond favourably to our demands or face an indefinite strike by health-care workers, as it embarked on its national day of action on Thursday of last week.
It delivered memorandums to the Union Buildings, the National Assembly and the premiers’ offices across the country, to protest against a lack of PPE and demand better wages and incentives. Nehawu called on the government to be more accountable and transparent in its handling of the fight against COVID-19. The virus has infected more than 27,360 front-line workers, and more than 240 have died from it.
Business Day reports that at the Union Buildings, Nehawu general secretary Zola Saphetha handed over their demands to acting director-general in the presidency Lusanda Mxenge. “There is no justification whatsoever for government’s failure to comply with the occupational health and safety legislation and regulations that seek to protect workers, especially those on the front-line of combating the pandemic,” said Saphetha.
Nehawu’s demands, among others, include that all health-care institutions comply with the Occupational Health and Safety Act, that occupational health and safety committees be established in all workplaces, and that infected workers must only return to work after having completed 10 days of mandatory self-isolation.
Nehawu, which demanded the procurement and provision of adequate protective equipment, also called for implementation of a risk or danger allowance for front-line workers. Health minister Zweli Mkhize has said this was being considered.
Nehawu also demanded the implementation of the last leg of a multiyear wage agreement signed in the public sector co-ordinating bargaining council in 2018. In February, the government announced its decision to slash the public sector wage bill by more than R160bn over the next three years, a decision described by unions as a declaration of war. The report says the subsequent resolution by the government to not implement a standing wage agreement for public servants in April is now subject to both court and arbitration proceedings.
Saphetha said in an IoL report that members were stuck between a rock and a hard place, where when they complained they were dismissed, and when they complied they died. Saphetha said they were dismayed that after having put their weight behind President Cyril Ramaphosa for the candidacy of leading the country he was the one now ignoring the worker’s pleas.
The union insisted on handing the memorandum to the director general in the office of the Presidency.
[link url="https://www.businesslive.co.za/bd/national/2020-09-03-police-clash-with-nehawu-members-at-protest-over-protective-equipment-and-wages/"]Full Business Day report[/link]
[link url="https://www.iol.co.za/pretoria-news/news/watch-nehawu-gives-president-7-days-to-deal-with-working-conditions-pay-4b636c98-72d9-4877-a5c5-2ee807904692"]Full report on the IoL site[/link]