Parliament – The National Education, Health and Allied Workers Union (Nehawu) on Monday vowed to increase pressure on Parliament to heed to its demands for striking workers at the legislature with solidarity strikes and protests by Cosatu-affiliated unions.
Workers gathered in the Old Assembly chamber on Monday morning on day seven of their strike to hear messages of support from Nehawu leadership, ANC alliance partners, and the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu).
“We are going to have a national shutdown…we are very clear. We are not fighting the alliance, we are fighting the employer,” said newly elected Nehawu Ikapa South regional secretary Baxolise Mali.
Mali told parliamentary staff the time for negotiating with Parliament was over.
“We are not negotiating. We have passed that stage,” he said.
Cosatu Western Cape provincial chairman Motlatsi Tsubane said he was disappointed there had been no “political intervention” to resolve the dispute between Parliament’s management and its staff.
“Where we stand as Cosatu, no, we don’t see any political intervention from our political leaders,” he said.
Turning to Parliament’s secretary Gengezi Mgidlana, Tsubane said: “It’s because of your (workers’) struggles which makes this man to be here today, but now he is biting the hand that feeds him.”
Tsubane also threatened industrial action from Cosatu affiliated unions, if Mgidlana did not heed to workers calls for better pay and working conditions.
“We call upon management to make it a point that they deal with your (workers’) issues…because if they don’t do that as Cosatu in this province we will organise all our affiliates…to come and sit in here.”
The ANC Youth League in the Western Cape joined in condemning Parliament’s management for not resolving the impasse with workers.
“We are calling on our MPs of the ANC in Parliament to continue showing leadership, but to do more than what they are doing right now,” said ANCYL provincial chairman Khalid Sayed.
Hundreds of parliamentary staff downed tools on August 6, demanding, among others, better pay and pension benefits, a performance bonus based on their annual salaries, an end to outsourcing of services at the legislature, and for Parliament to abandon the controversial process of re-vetting all staff for security purposes.
African News Agency
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