A planned strike by immigration officers was averted when officials of the Department of Home Affairs and the Public Servants’ Association (PSA) signed an agreement on Thursday, the union said.
”This agreement settles the dispute between the two parties and the impending strike for [Friday] has been called off,” PSA deputy general manager Manie de Clerq said.
On Wednesday, officials from the department were upbeat that the planned strike at ports of entry could be averted.
”The department is confident that what it presented [to the unions] yesterday [Tuesday] is more than sufficient to deal with the matters in dispute,” employee relations head Ronald Oppelt told the National Assembly’s home affairs committee on Wednesday.
Therefore, if the PSA went on strike as planned it would be unfair and unreasonable, and enough reason for the department to take legal action to prevent the strike, he said.
The department met all the unions representing immigration officers on Tuesday to inform them of the job-evaluation results and the implementation plans.
All unions had ”bought into the process”, barring the PSA, which indicated it needed to consult its members and would communicate its decision by Thursday.
The PSA represented 614 of the about 1 163 immigration officers, the National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union about 442 and smaller unions the rest.
Thus, if the PSA had decided to go ahead with the strike, only its members — about half of all immigration officers — would have been affected, Oppelt said.
Committee chairperson Hlomane Chauke had emphasised that it was concerned about the plight of immigration officers, and that the impact of a strike would be severe.
MPs also expressed their anger over the fact that they had to learn about the threatened strike through the media and not from the department itself, and the apparent delay in departmental action after the PSA declared a dispute on June 12.
The committee had identified the issue of immigration officers a long time ago and had been raising its concerns about their pay and working conditions for about five years in various forums. — Sapa