Johannesburg – The Health and Allied Workers Indaba Trade Union (Haitu) says that they will be joining the public sector workers' strike on March 13.
The union that represents 20 000 health workers says that they are fed up with the government’s disgraceful response to workers’ demands that were tabled in the Public Service Coordinating Bargaining Council (PSCBC).
"The government, the employer, has been showing workers the middle finger by denying them a meaningful increase and by disregarding and disrespecting the bargaining council. Health workers have been suffering for years, and this government refuses to take any responsibility for the crisis we are facing in the healthcare sector," said a union statement.
The union said that they do not want the 3% wage offer and that it is time that all workers, especially those in the healthcare sector, stand up and fight for what they deserve.
"Haitu supports the demand for a 10% across-the-board increase. What we are demanding is very small when you consider how the bosses have blatantly robbed workers of their increases in the last two years. Health workers are working under enormous pressure. We must deliver quality healthcare in public hospitals, which are literally crumbling because of poor infrastructure caused by poor maintenance," added the statement.
They say that they frequently run out of basic materials like medicine, bandages, food, and clean bedding in healthcare facilities.
"The conditions have been made even worse by frequent load shedding and water cuts, and these have a direct impact on quality patient care."
"This is why we condemn the comments made by Minister of Health Joe Phaahla and all those who have the nerve to blame workers for the inconvenience of the strike," said Haitu.
The union said that patients are dying in hospitals every day because of chronic staff shortages, exacerbated by load shedding and water cuts, and he has not lifted a finger to fix that situation.
Haitu said that the demand for a 10% increase is not too much to ask under the circumstances, and asked the government to stop abusing the term ‘essential worker’ and holding it over the heads of health workers as a way to abuse and silence them.
"This government is abusing centralized bargaining. If workers in the healthcare sector are essential, then their salaries and working conditions must reflect that. If the state wants to continue to be able to designate workers in the sector as ‘essential’ then they must engage with labour in a way that reflects this by genuinely trying to work with all stakeholders to come up with an acceptable proposal that suits all parties. They have been acting unilaterally and imposing increases without negotiating," read the statement.
The union said that a strike by health workers was long overdue considering how badly workers have been treated. It is ridiculous that in South Africa, workers have the constitutional right to strike, but that right is taken away from them because of the designation of ‘essential services’.
"This is nonsense! Nurses are going on strike in other parts of the world, and this is a perfectly acceptable practice, except here in South Africa. It is shameful that health workers are not even able to exercise this basic right, and yet, it was the working class of this country that brought down the Apartheid system," added the statement.
They said that they have been mobilizing all our members to join the strike on Monday in order to ensure that all demands are met.
"It seems that strike action is the only language that the employer understands; therefore, they will find us on the picket line until all our demands are met," said the Haitu.
The Star