Pretoria - Thousands of Home Affairs employees could face dismissal should they embark on an unprotected strike they are threatening over the changing of working conditions.
The department unilaterally implemented a new system on Monday to improve service delivery. It will see public servants now working on Saturdays.
The department believes it has not acted illegally as the country’s Basic Conditions of Employment Act states that employees can be made to work six days a week, provided they do not work more than the stipulated 45 hours a week.
Unfazed by the law, unions have said they will explore all avenues - including industrial action - to force the department to either pay workers for work performed on Saturdays, or scrap the new system.
Employees held pickets across the country on Monday to protest their new hours.
“While we want to explore legal avenues, we also have to prepare for possible strike action. The pickets… are because we are already mobilising for a possible withdrawal of labour,” said National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ union spokesman Sizwe Pamla.
The Public Servants Association is also unhappy about the Saturday work. “With these changes, our members will have to incur additional costs for transport and child care, while their salaries will remain the same,” Leon Gilbert said.
Nehawu has also taken issue, saying that most of its members, who are black, often had cultural and religious obligations on Saturdays. “We wanted these issues addressed at the bargaining council. We also wanted an opportunity to have a consultation process with our members. We wanted the consultation to take place until the end of April to reach all our members. But they went on to implement before we could consult,” Pamla said.
The department is adamant unions have no grounds for a strike.
“The department will not hesitate to exercise its authority and deal decisively with those participating by taking disciplinary measures which may include dismissal,” director-general Mkuseli Apleni warned.
Talks between labour and Home Affairs deadlocked at the departmental bargaining council last week. Should the pickets continue during the stalemate, services are likely to be affected.
Pretoria News