INLSA

A file photo of Sadtu members marching during a 2010 national strike. Picture: Bongiwe Mchunu

The SA Democratic Teachers’ Union in KwaZulu-Natal is planning to go on strike next month unless the Department of Education pays their members an estimated R300 million docked from their salaries during the 2010 strike.

This comes after a rival union, the National Teacher’s Union (Natu), won a court battle with the department over salary deductions during the strike. The union said on Tuesday that it was angered by the department allowing itself to be “defrauded” of more than R50m by Natu.

Sadtu participated in a public servants’ strike and has claimed that Natu also took part.

However, Natu holds firm that they did not take part in the strike.

They took the Department of Education to court in September last year over the deductions from the salaries of 27 000 teachers.

Last month the Supreme Court of Appeal ruled in favour of Natu, meaning the department will now have to pay at least R50m to the union’s members.

While teaching by Sadtu members will continue, the union said it would not participate in any of its regular meetings with the department until its demands are met. Union officials will, however, meet the department on Wednesday to discuss a solution to the disagreement.

“Natu did strike in August 2010, but it was an unprotected strike, as they did not inform the department beforehand,” said Sadtu provincial secretary Mbuyiseni Mathonsi. “Natu took the Department of Education to court and, because of the department’s weak legal section, they lost the case,” he said.

“The department was defrauded over R50m in that case.”

Natu deputy president Allen Thompson said: “We were never part of the 2010 strike, therefore, we did not give notice to the department about it.

“Our members were at school at that time and we submitted attendance registers to the court, and the court ruled in our favour. The only members who were not at work at that time were either on sick leave or maternity leave.”

KZN Education Department superintendent-general Nkosinathi Sishi said the department had not yet received any official notification from Sadtu about the planned mass action. “We will be meeting them this week and we are also meeting our legal advisors to try and find a way forward.

But this should not cause any teacher to feel that there is a problem,” he said.

Mathonsi said Sadtu was concerned about the inefficiency, ineffectiveness,and weakness of the department’s legal section.

“This is very costly not only to itself, but to our union,” he said.

Sadtu will meet KZN Education MEC Senzo Mchunu on Tuesday and will have its branch leadership meet all the department’s districts on Thursday.

On February 29, members of Sadtu plan to march to the department’s head office in Pietermaritzburg.

laea.medley@inl.co.za