Protesting nurses in the North West province will not stop their campaign for uniform allowances until they see concrete proof that it will be increased, union officials said on Wednesday.
”It’s difficult for us, we are not going to stop our campaign until we have something in writing,” said Itumeleng Molaplhegi, shop steward for the Democratic Nurses’ Organisation of South Africa (Denosa) in the North West.
This was in response to Minister of Health Manto Tshabalala-Msimang’s claims that ”processes are under way to significantly raise the current uniform allowance”.
Molaplhegi said it has not been indicated by how much the uniform allowance will increase.
Denosa members began their protest two weeks ago by wearing plain clothes to work. On Monday, they stepped up their protest by wearing pyjamas and nighties.
Molaplhegi said that as nursing is an essential service, they do not have the right to go on strike.
”This campaign is the only way we can exercise our rights,” he said, insisting that they are not trying to undermine the processes of the Central Bargaining Council for Health.
He added that the pyjama campaign is an initiative of the nurses themselves and not union leadership.
Tshabalala-Msimang called the protest premature and unjustifiable, and expressed her full support for the decision taken by the North West department of health to reprimand and issue warnings to those nurses who may consider taking this type of action.
”The issue of the uniform allowances for nurses is of concern to us because we would like to support our nurses as much as we can, to ensure that they present a particular image to patients and the general public.
”Patients should have some degree of confidence in the professional integrity of our nurses,” she said.
Virginia Maamogwa, Denosa manager in the North West, said on Tuesday that nurses receive a paltry amount for their shoe allowance.
”Some get R4,50 a month, others R2,50 and the rest nothing,” Maamogwa said.
That amounts to R54 a year. The average pair of shoes costs several multiples of this.
Barba Gaoganediwe, spokesperson for the North West health department, said one of the problems it is working on is standardising the allowance across all provinces. This will also prevent nurses moving from one province to the next in the hope of a larger uniform allowance.
He accused the protesting nurses of creating problems by ”confusing patients and turning our facilities into bedrooms”.
This also poses a security risk as one cannot distinguish between patients and nurses, and anyone can walk in and pretend to be a nurse.
”The Public Service Code of Conduct requires that we present ourselves in a dignified manner as public servants. Any action that undermines the spirit of this code of conduct will not be tolerated,” concluded Tshabalala-Msimang. — Sapa