Johannesburg - The 10111 call-centre strike looks set to intensify next week, with the SA Police Union (Sapu), which is eager to shut down the facility entirely, meeting for discussions at the weekend.
Thousands of fed-up call centre workers went on strike this week over a stalled four-year wage dispute, with the SAPS forced to bring in uniformed officers to man what is arguably the nation’s most important call service.
While strike action has occurred outside offices in Gauteng and the Eastern Cape, Sapu general secretary Oscar Skommere told the Saturday Star yesterday that the strike must intensify.
He claimed on Thursday and yesterday that the SAPS management had been unwilling to meet for further negotiations, and as a result the union would meet this weekend to strategise how to stop the call centre from operating entirely.
“We'll be doing analysis to find out what we can do to cause a total shutdown,” he said.
The union claimed 5000 workers were involved in the strike, though the SAPS disputed this, claiming it's closer to a thousand workers countrywide.
According to the union, the dispute began in 2013, when workers approached SAPS management over their salary levels failing to compare with those of call-centre workers at other government centres.
After a task team was formulated to benchmark their salaries against other officials, a report was compiled saying the workers salaries should be raised to salary level 7 - an increase of about R50000 per annum.
When the new salaries were not implemented, an urgent meeting last year with management again ordered the report’s recommendations be followed.
However, the union claimed even after this agreement, negotiations in recent weeks at the Safety and Security Sectoral Bargaining Council came to a halt when compiling a written agreement.
According to one 10111 call centre worker, who spoke to the Saturday Star on condition of anonymity, he worked at the Midrand centre for almost 10 years and never received an annual increase.
“It’s really frustrating working with SAPS officers. They get promoted (to new ranks) while the non-police officers stay at the same level. People doing the same job, doing the same thing can get promoted, but we can’t,” he said.
He slammed a counter-offer made to upgrade each members’ salary to that of a constable - lower than a level 7 salary - as an insult.
“Some people already have higher salaries than that. They will have to reapply for their job and get a lower salary. It’s unacceptable,” the member said.
On Thursday, SA Federation of Trade Unions general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi confirmed his federation’s support for the strike.
Vavi called on police management to come to the table.
“Our pleas to the minister (of police) and acting commissioner are to hear the cry of these workers. Respond to them,” he said.
Police spokesperson Major-General Sally de Beer said yesterday afternoon there had not yet been any negotiation plans set down, though the SAPS labour relations unit was in communication with Sapu to try to bring an end to the strike.
“I think all parties want this over with,” she said.
De Beer confirmed all 22 operational centres were operating, and while some centres had been affected by the strike, others had not been.
Regarding Sapu’s plans of a shutdown, she said this would not be allowed to happen.
“We have a constitutional imperative to provide emergency services to our communities. We will not let this happen,” she said.