A meeting to resolve a dispute about moving ambulance services and clinics in Gauteng from municipal to provincial administration ”achieved nothing” on Monday, a trade union said.
The South African Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu), which opposes the move, met provincial health minister Brian Hlongwa in Johannesburg.
Nurses protested outside the provincial health department offices during the meeting.
”The meeting took place and there was nothing achieved,” said Samwu provincial chairperson Essaw Mbhele.
Mbhele described the union’s frustrations on being ”kept in the dark” on the decision to ”provincialise” primary healthcare and emergency services.
”Salga [the South African Local Government Association] is mum on the matter and today was the first time the provincial government agreed to meet us,” he said.
As their employer, Salga was to liaise with labour.
Health department spokesperson Zanele Mngadi confirmed the meeting.
”The MEC [provincial minister] noted the union’s concerns, and the meeting noted a need for the Salga as a local government employer to engage with labour on the matter,” said Mngadi.
The health department had regular meetings with a Salga working committee regarding the transfer of the services, including staff, she said.
”Furthermore, the management of the municipalities have been extensively involved in all stages of the process … We have been informed that municipalities have been consulting with their staff,” she said, responding to Samwu’s claims that the decision was made without consulting them.
Mbhele said the union was concerned over how the move would affect their members’ pension funds and salaries. He said the union was not concerned over the loss of membership that the move would likely cause.
”But the main problem is that we were not consulted,” he said.
It was decided in 2005 to provincialise primary healthcare and emergency services, Mngadi said, in accordance with the National Health Act and the Constitution.
The move was finalised by Hlongwa in January this year at a Provincial Health Council meeting.
The benefits of provincial government taking over these services included:
- improving the quality of services through more uniform systems,
- equal resource allocation,
- more effective referral systems and
- improved infrastructure.
The process of provincialising the 265 primary health care clinics started on April 1 this year at the Metsweding municipality and ends with the cities of Johannesburg and the Ekurhuleni area in April 2011.
Emergency services across the province will be provincialised by March 2009.
Mbhele said the union was considering interdicting the provincial government from going ahead with the plan. Another way of halting the move would be strike action.
”We will look at options as we go forward … [a] strike is another option,” he said. – Sapa