VAVI LASHES OUT AT GOVT ACTION AGAINST STRIKERS
Public Service and Administration Minister Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi is multiplying her problems by dismissing strikers and threatening action against others, said Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi on Sunday.
Vavi, Cosatu president Willy Madisha and several other senior public-service union officials visited the wage talks at the Public Service Coordinating Bargaining Council (PSCBC) in Centurion, south of Pretoria.
The visit coincided with a meeting of several government ministers at the main government offices in the Union Buildings in Pretoria. After the ministers’ meeting, Fraser-Moleketi said the government was ”steadfast” in its resolve to act against public servants who broke the law, especially essential service workers who were striking and those who intimidated other workers.
”You don’t do that, she knows that. Everybody knows that you never ever try to dismiss people in the middle of a strike without getting yourself in a situation with issues arising,” Vavi said.
”We will not settle the strike until all threats have been withdrawn and every person who went on strike goes back to a workplace.
”There has to be a very strong link between a settlement and addressing the threats and intimidation by the government.”
Vavi said the unions wanted to find a solution but called on all workers to ”continue and intensify” the strike until a settlement was found.
Union and government negotiators were supposed to have met again in the PSCBC on Sunday afternoon but by late in the day had not met as negotiators were locked in separate caucuses.
While progress was made on some issues during talks over the weekend, the impasse over the percentage increase for this year remains, with government offering 6,5% and unions demanding 10%.
Other unresolved issues include housing and medical aid subsidies, and the date of implementation of occupation-specific dispensations.
Custodians of the law
Fraser-Moleketi said: ”Public servants are custodians of the law, if public servants do not respect the law and due process, the fabric of our society would fall to shreds,” she said.
Fraser-Moleketi was speaking after a meeting at the Union Buildings between key government ministers — education, health, finance, intelligence, defence and others — who had gathered to make a new assessment about the labour action.
”We can not have casualties or deaths in our hospitals because of the selfish interests of those who are charged with the lives or others, protecting the lives of those who require care must be our first priority,” she said.
Fraser-Moleketi also took a swipe at teachers who have embarked on strike action.
”We have seen educators failing in their duty to act as examples to those who are entrusted into their care,” she said.
Education Minister Naledi Pandor supported her view saying the teaching profession has been harmed due to the strike action.
”Parents have come to me expressing quite serious disquiet about some of the persons who teach their children that they have seen behaving in ways they did not imagine possible,” she said.
She added that it would take work to restore the image of teaching as a serious profession.
Cost go beyond rands and cents
Finance Minister Trevor Manuel said the cost of the public service strike went beyond rand and cent losses.
”How do you measure the fact that learners has been denied access to teaching in the classroom for an extensive period of time, that has direct impact on the future of the learners … how do you measure people don’t have access to healthcare?” Manuel asked.
He said these other consequences of the strike made it difficult to measure the losses suffered.
”You may be saving money on bandages and drugs not administered and salaries not paid but I think there are different kinds of cost that you need to be aware of in society,” he said.
Fraser-Moleketi appealed to all public servants to return to work as she said the negotiations with unions were ongoing.
”We are confident that a resolution will soon be reached,” she said. – Sapa