An inability to communicate their grievances lies behind the nurses=D5 stri=
reports Pat Sidley
Florence Nightingale died at Baragwanath Hospital this week, after a long=
struggle against apartheid medicine and wages, and a terminal dose of=20 broken promises. A striking nurse shovelled soil onto the coffin when she told a radio=20 interviewer that Nightingale =D2had long since been buried=D3. She had been asked if she still believed in her oath binding her to the=20 ethical principles enshrined in the memory of the pioneer caring nurse. Her=
answer was to describe the hardship she and her family were facing on her=
low salary. A sole nurse was working among the critically ill babies in the neo-natal=
intensive care unit this week because, she explained, although she=20 supported the strike, she couldn=D5t live with herself if a baby died. Meanwhile, striking nurses taunted and toyi-toyied, and senior government=
officials ordered them lamely to return to work. The ultimatum and vague threat of legal action issued by the acting health=
minister, Labour Minister Tito Mboweni, and Gauteng=D5s MEC for health,=20 Amos Masondo, after a meeting on Wednesday night at the hospital rang=20 hollow to the nurses, who have vowed to continue. The deadlock comes against a background of intractable problems in the=20 health sector, too little money to restructure it at present, and a bargain=
structure designed in such a way that the disaffected can only be heard if=
they=D5re yelling through a loudhailer on the picket lines. Nurses are, of course, not alone in this. Doctors in the public sector have=
been trying with less success to register their extreme discontent at their=
lot. They have not yet resorted to industrial action. Their representative =
the Public Service Bargaining Council, Peter Brewer of the Medical=20 Association of South Africa (Masa), believes that forum is part of the=20
The strikers have been exhorted by all and sundry, including Masa, to show=
more respect for the dispute resolution mechanisms available to them, but=
Brewer says these have fatal flaws. If a category of workers negotiating at the council is defined as an=20 =D2essential service=D3, those workers cannot strike =D1 but must go for=20 compulsory arbitration, Brewer says. To do this, all the parties at the table =D1 unions representing the entire=
range of public servants, from nurses to information technologists =D1 have=
to agree to the arbitration, which they seldom do. It=D5s not in their inte=
The employer (the government) arrives at the table with a fixed amount=20 (allotted in the Budget), which has to be divided up and fought for among=
the several unions ranged around the table. For one party to gain, through=
arbitration or any other means, other parties must suffer. And besides that major disincentive, remarks South African Nursing=20 Association (Sana) representative Eileen Brannigan, the government is not=
bound by the findings of such compulsory arbitration. Brewer says the government is maintaining its commitment to strict fiscal=
This means that although Minister of Public Administration Zola Skweyiya=20 may want to put more money into restructuring the public service, there is=
none for him to do so =D1 and no more will be forthcoming.
Most of the nurses belong to unions whose representatives (the National=20 Education, Health and Allied Workers Union (Nehawu) and Sana), struck a=20 binding deal at the Public Service Bargaining Council earlier this year. This has been pointed out by almost every stakeholder in the present=20 dispute, but goes no way towards establishing why the nurses would then=20 renege on an apparently binding agreement negotiated on their behalf. The deal promised a 22 percent increase to the lowest paid workers, most=20 of them Nehawu members, and five percent to those who were better off=20 (earning around R2=CA000 a month or more). Doctors and other civil servants=
regarded as earning a good salary were given a derisory four percent. The striking professional nurses not only got very little in the deal, but=
faced the added indignity of seeing their colleagues, often across a corrid=
employed by local authorities instead of the state and thus not part of the=
bargaining council, earning a higher basic salary =D1 and awarded a larger=
percentage increase. This is what caused problems at Soweto=D5s clinics last month and, while=20 nurses and other health workers eventually returned to work after a few=20 days of striking, nobody but their employers believed the problem would=20 go away. There wasn=D5t any more money in the public service=D5s kitty to paper over=
the cracks and the nurses=D5 patience just wore out. Issues that affect nurses in particular could not be properly addressed in =
bargaining forum this year. Brannigan said that around R1,1-billion is=20 needed to give female state employees the same housing rights as men.=20 Only R400-million was allocated for this, and the amount was finite.=20 Around 94 percent of nurses are women =D1 and this added another=20 ingredient to the already boiling pot. While many sympathise with the plight of the striking nurses, few admire=20 the methods. If anything, it appears their store of goodwill in the=20 community is on the wane. The African National Congress, civics, the nurses=D5 unions Nehawu and=20 Sana, and others have visibly distanced themselves from the strike. The=20 placatory tone usually present when ANC Cabinet ministers face similar=20 issues has been noticeably absent. Instead, the nurses have been ordered=20 back to work, with threats of legal action if they stay out. Newly appointed Health Department Director General Dr Olive Shisana=20 told the Mail & Guardian that the issues over which the nurses were=20 striking required discussion, and that this could take place outside the=20 public service council. She believes the long-term solutions to the problem=
are to be found in proposals made by her committee, which looked into the=
funding of a national health system. This system would rely heavily on nurses, and the proposed rates of pay=20 used in calculations in the committee=D5s report should adequately address=
the present problems. She noted that the current impasse in the health sector was mirrored in=20 every other sector in the country and, if this one can=D5t be solved, =D2th= en we=20 are all in trouble. It=D5s the problem of the whole country=D3. The normally politically correct National Progressive Primary Health Care=
Network has appealed to nurses to return to work in a statement headed:=20 =D2Nurses=D5 strike: Patients also have rights=D3. The mothers gathered outside the ICU waiting to feed, clean and help care=
for their tiny, frail infants in incubators have seen underpaid and=20 overworked doctors rallying round to save the tiny lives, while hundreds of=
nurses toyi-toying on the grave of Florence Nightingale noisily chant, with=
posters reading: =D2Keep the last carriage on the gravy train for us.=D3