Court dismisses Sars bid to stop strike
The Labour Court on Monday dismissed an application by the South African Revenue Service (Sars) for an urgent interdict against strike action by its workers.
“The court dismissed the application on the basis of urgency,” said Sars spokesperson Adrian Lackay.
“The judge basically recommended that we should approach the CCMA [Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration] and their committee on essential services to make a ruling on whether or not Sars and aspects of its operations qualify as an essential service.”
Lackay said Sars would keep that in mind the next time it finds itself in a similar situation.
The strike action by members of the National Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu) and the Public Service Association was meant to last only one day, he said.
It was too early to have numbers on staff turnout for Monday, but Lackay said there had been reports of protests in Durban and at the Lebombo border post.
“Two hundred workers were removed by the police in Durban where they tried to block operations at Durban ports ... and protesters also attempted to blockade the Lebombo border post and the police were called in,” he said.
Sars was now waiting for feedback from the unions on Tuesday following a new wage offer of between 9% and 11% on a sliding scale for employees of respective grades.
“They will come back to us with an answer tomorrow [Tuesday].
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Nehawu said thousands of Sars workers stayed away from work on Monday, demanding a 13% salary increase.
“The union membership felt that given the employer’s intractable attitude ... we should withdraw our labour until such time we have received a satisfactory offer,” said Nehawu spokesperson Sizwe Pamla.
Meanwhile, the Democratic Alliance called on Sars to extend the deadline for manual submission by at least one working day for each day that the current strike takes place.—Sapa
