King Edward VIII Hospital in Durban. King Edward VIII Hospital in Durban.
Durban - The union leading protests against outsourcing in Durban is calling for a meeting with the Department of Health in a bid to settle an increasingly violent labour dispute at public hospitals in the city.
The South African Public Service Union (Sapsu) said it wanted the Public Health and Social Development Sectoral Bargaining Council to lead a mediation process.
The union believes this process would help confirm its interpretation of the law - that it was mandatory to directly employ a worker after three months.
Moses Tsotetsi, union general secretary, was speaking to the Daily News on Thursday in the wake of the fatal shooting of two workers and the arrest of a third at King Edward VIII Hospital.
The union supported workers employed by companies contracted to five hospitals, two universities and eThekwini Colleges in Durban, said Tsotetsi.
He said their challenge to outsourcing was supported by amendments to the Labour Relations Act (LRA).
The workers, killed at the hospital on Wednesday, had allegedly been involved in a shoot-out with hospital security guards.
A security guard was shot in the leg and a nurse allegedly assaulted.
Asked why the workers had been at the hospital early that morning when the shooting occurred, Sapsu provincial secretary, Joe Sibiya, said he was unsure because their picket times were from about 7am to 4pm.
“We might never know because the people who could tell us were murdered and we don’t have access to the other one because he is in jail.”
He urged the government to “avoid such senseless loss of lives by committing itself in action to speedily resolve the matter by using the upcoming conciliation process before the council to find each other”.
At a press briefing on Thursday, Sibiya called the shooting of the two men a “brutal murder”.
Sibiya alleged there had been other “attacks” on workers, presenting police case numbers.
Some of the workers assaulted were present, and although they had opened criminal cases and knew who their alleged assailants were, no arrests had been made.
“It is also a fact that in all these government departments and institutions, there are other unions which have betrayed workers in support of continuous exploitation of workers instead of enforcing the new amendments to the LRA to assist the workers.
“These are the dangers of unions sleeping in the same bed with the employer, while workers become the victims,” said Sibiya.
He claimed the beneficiaries of tenders that outsource workers in the public sector were “connected to political elites”.
“It is a known fact that there are over 800 000 workers in the country outsourced in various government departments across the country.
“About 60% of the outsourced workers are in the Department of Health.”
In February the union had alerted the head of department about the matter, requesting a meeting to discuss the issue.
Last month the union sent a proposal on how the matter could be resolved - by way of appointments, said Sibiya, but they were yet to receive “any favourable response”.
Desmond Motha, spokesman for Health MEC Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo, would not be drawn into commenting on what plan of action the department had for dealing with the disruptions at health care facilities.
“In a statement we said we have no problem with picketers as long as they do so within the confines of the law,” he said.
Called for comment on the matter, Phakama Ndunakazi, provincial secretary of the National Education Health and Allied Workers Union (Nehawu), said its leadership was engaged in a meeting with the Health Department’s senior management.
In a veiled reference to Sapsu, Ndunakazi lambasted “people who don’t follow processes” to resolve issues.
“We support the call for the abolishment of outsourcing labour, but it becomes a different issue when you fail to engage in a manner that will not endanger others,” said Ndunakazi.
Imraan Keeka, MPL and DA spokesman on health in the province, called on Dhlomo and his officials to “get off the campaign trail” and resolve matters causing havoc at health care facilities.
Daily News