Nehawu strike hits Western Cape

Cape Town - Protesters affiliated with the ongoing National Education, Health and Allied Workers' Union (Nehawu) strike apparently posed as parents to gain access to the Western Cape Education (WCED) head office before disrupting services on Monday.

The WCED was among a number of government offices affected by the strike in the Western Cape, including the closing of the Cape Town Home Affairs office, and the Labour Department offices.

While the strike appeared to be gaining momentum in the province, Nehawu suffered another blow when the Labour Court upheld an interdict by the Department of Public Service and Administration against the union.

The strike has brought some health facilities, especially in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal to a grinding halt, with the union demanding a 10% salary increase – of which 3% was granted last year –and a R2 500 housing allowance for workers.

In Gauteng, Health Minister Dr Joe Phaahla conducted an oversight visit at Thelle Mogoerane Hospital in Vosloorus, Ekurhuleni, where members of the SANDF had been deployed to assist.

The SANDF said military healthcare practitioners were deployed last Wednesday to hospitals as determined by the Department of Health, and would remain deployed as may be required.

Education MEC David Maynier said it was unacceptable that the striking members invaded the walk-in Client Service Centre at their head office.

“Parents and teachers waiting patiently for support on a range of issues were completely disregarded by the protesters, and prevented from going about their business.

Eyewitnesses report that the striking workers entered the Service Centre under false pretences, posing as parents before removing items of clothing to reveal Nehawu T-shirts,” Maynier said.

Health Department spokesperson Foster Mohale said they believed Monday’s judgment will bring some stability in health facilities across the country.

“This is a victory for the innocent, vulnerable and non-unionised workers who have suffered the consequences of the disruptive and violent strike action," said Mohale.

But Nehawu said it was exploring legal options following the Labour Court decision to uphold the court interdict.

Nehawu secretary-general Zola Saphetha said that they had complied with the court judgment and had informed their members of the decision.

“We will be meeting with our legal team to explore our legal recourse and to see if appealing against the judgment is an option. We will then proceed to have a meeting on the way forward (today),” he said.

The Labour Court last week dismissed an appeal by Nehawu against an interdict preventing the strike, but the union ignored the court ruling. A second appeal was dismissed on Monday.

There were reports of protests by Nehawu members outside a clinic in KwaDabeka, north-west of Durban, with entrances blocked.

Nehawu provincial secretary, Baxolise Mali, said that the arrogance of the employer was causing more harm than good for the lives of the union's members and ordinary South Africans.

“We want the employer to come to the table; we don’t want the 3% that they arrogantly gave us. We want 10%, but are open to reasonable negotiations

“We need an improvement of living conditions and proper compensation. Our members work hard. Their lives need to be improved.

“Other issues relate to the exploitation of community health care workers,” he said.

Labour law expert, Michael Bagraim, said the members needed the authorities to come to the table and speak to them.

“I don’t understand why the (Labour) minister is quiet on this issue. South Africa has legislation, there’s also the CCMA that can deal with this, bring them both to the table as both parties trust the CCMA.

“It’s a truly sad state of affairs when it seems like the minister is on auto pilot on this matter and not doing anything

“The sad thing is that services are affected and others are running on skeleton staff because members demand compensation. We can’t run away from the fact that these are essential services that are being affected,” said Bagraim.

Cape Times