Robben Island Museum has been operating only two of its four daily trips from the Waterfront as a result of a strike.
Management confirmed yesterday that they had cancelled two tours due to shortage of staff. About 100 of 220 workers have been on strike since Wednesday after negotiations deadlocked between the National Education Health and Allied Workers Union (Nehawu) and management.
The workers, who run the island’s ferries, work in its shops and sell tickets to tourists, are demanding a monthly wage increase of R2 500 across the board. They also want a shutdown of operations from December 25 to January 2.
They are demanding the implementation of all the provisions of a 2010/11 settlement agreement signed by Nehawu and Robben Island Museum.
Robben Island Museum chief executive Sibongiseni Mkhize said the museum was not running the 11am tour. Last week the strike action forced the museum to cancel the 3pm tour. He said the 9am and 1pm tours were operational since Friday.
Nehawu said the strike would be until Robben Island management met its demands. Nehawu branch secretary at the museum, Sinako Mrwetyana, said the negotiations had not resumed since they downed tools last week.
“The negotiations haven’t resumed because we are waiting for the management to call us back to (the negotiations),” Mrwetyana said. She reiterated that the workers were not going to return to their posts until their demands were fully met.
“Because this is our peak season, the museum has been losing millions of rand due to the cancelled tours. Compare that to the R2 500 increase the workers are demanding; they’d rather lose more than meet the workers’ demands,” she said.
She warned tourists of safety and security risks they may be exposed to should they board the museum’s boats during the strike. She said many staff members who are qualified to ensure the safety of the tours were on strike.
Mrwetyana said that since the strike began there have been four accidents on boats and tourists had been injured.
“Yesterday two tourists were injured on the 9am boat,” she said, but did not have the full details of what happened.
“On Thursday a tourist slipped and fell on a boat due to overcrowding, as there were no workers supervising the capacity of the decks,” she said.
She said the tourist had broken a leg and was airlifted from the sea to hospital.
However, Mkhize said the tourist did not break a leg and denied the accident took place inside the boat.
“It (accident) happened outside the boat, the tourists were taking pictures as they were entering the boat,” he said.
He declined to estimate how much money the museum has lost since the strike started. - Cape Times