The Labour Appeal Court of South Africa has interdicted the strike action by Nehawu yet its members have vowed to intensify their actions as from today.
In the judgement by the court, the workers were ordered to cease their strike actions and demonstrations at health facilities where some of their members are making it difficult for sick and critical patients to access health care.
The strike by health care workers has been violent and messy as Nehawu members have been accused of intimidation and stopping doctors, nurses and paramedics from performing their duties or getting into hospitals. As a result, reports have alleged that several sick people have lost their lives after being denied medical care because of the action of Nehawu striking members.
The Health Minister Dr Joe Phaahla said today the deaths reported at the Thelle Mogoerane District Hospital in Vosloorus were likely caused by the strike action.
“Until we get final reports from the clinicians and pathologist, we will still be saying most deaths are probably linked to the strike. We are talking about people who died in our facilities in a situation where they could not be attended to” he said on his visit to the hospital today.
The National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union, Nehawu, embarked on the industrial action from 6 March 2023, following unsuccessful wage negotiations with the government.
Nehawu’s demands date back to 2022 where they were given a wage increase of 3% which was conditionally implemented by the government, following mass protests in August and November last year.
The union is demanding a 10% increase for the 2023/2024 financial year on top of a 7% inflation-linked increase, while the government is only offering 4.7%.
In a statement released by Nehawu on Monday the union said in 2020/21 the public servants suffered a major wage cut as a result of the employer’s decision to renege on the implementation of clause 3.3 of Resolution 1 of the 2018.
“Let’s not forget that this cruel decision was taken in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic when the entire population largely relied on the sacrifices and diligence of the public servants in the frontlines of service delivery, especially the healthcare workers.
“In 2021/22 the employer merely offered a non-pensionable R1000 cash gratuity and no increase in the salary baseline. This meant that on average public servants lost about 4.5% value of their salary as a result of inflation, which also affected salary notches and the total package of their future pension pay-outs” the statement read.
