Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) president Sdumo Dlamini called on KwaZulu-Natal’s (KZN) striking doctors to go back to work on Friday.
South Africa could not afford another day without doctors at work, he told strikers at the Nelson Mandela School of Medicine on Thursday afternoon.
If doctors went back to work, the South African Medical Association (Sama) and Cosatu would try to get fired doctors reinstated.
On Monday, the KwaZulu-Natal health department fired close to 300 doctors after they defied a labour court order instructing them to return to work.
Dlamini told doctors a task team would be formed to look at reinstating fired doctors and other issues affecting them.
Cosatu and Sama representatives were expected to meet on Thursday night with KwaZulu-Natal Premier Dr Zweli Mkhize and provincial health minister Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo.
Hope?
Meanwhile, there may be a legal glimmer of hope for doctors dismissed for taking part in an unprotected strike, a labour specialist said on Thursday.
”The labour court has previously held that the unjustified conduct of an employer prior to the strike is a valid consideration to take into account when determining the fairness of such a dismissal.
”Where employers provoke their employees into striking, the court will be more sympathetic to those employees striking illegally than it otherwise may have been,” said Johan Botes, director of Cliffe Dekker Hofmeyr’s employment law practice.
He said the department might have to explain why it had not implemented the occupation-specific dispensation (OSD) as agreed in 2007, and if no ”reasonable explanation” was forthcoming, it might be compelled to reinstate the dismissed doctors.
”… considering the facts faced by the medical professionals, it is not improbable that they may find a sympathetic judge wishing to administer his own medicine to an apparently obstinate employer”, he said.
He added, however, that the doctors’ behaviour was ”risky” and they should refrain from resorting to illegal industrial action irrespective of the legitimacy of their concerns, especially in the case of essential service workers.
Medical sector unions have taken the government’s revised pay offer back to their members for endorsement.
Health department spokesperson Fidel Hadebe said the government had not yet received an indication of whether the offer was palatable to union members, but added labour had 14 days in which to make a decision.
Cosatu said the main stumbling block to settling the matter was the dismissal of doctors.
”… we appeal to the minister of health and provincial ministers for health to reverse the dismissals, so that we have only one issue on the table — the draft agreement on OSD salary increases, and not the dismissals,” the union federation said in a statement.
Democratic Alliance shadow health minister Mike Waters said government was playing a ”dangerous game” and urged it to reinstate those dismissed and refrain from any further dismissals.
”If the government does not stop dismissing doctors, the strike is not only set to continue, but will gain momentum as doctors down scalpels in solidarity with their colleagues,” Waters said.
Hadebe said the dismissal letters issued to doctors stated they should provide a reason why they embarked on the illegal action. He said government would look at the reasons provided by doctors and decide whether their dismissals stood or not. — Sapa