COSATU NW - Department of Health 26 - 10 - 06

COSATU North West press statement on the attitude of the North West Department of Health

On 7 September 2006 a court settlement agreement was signed between the Provincial MEC for Health in the North West and COSATU unions. Both parties agreed to maintain industrial peace, with no victimisation or provocation of Department of Health (DoH) employees by employers.

COSATU North West condemns the attitude of the DoH for the manner in which it is dealing with all issues raised by COSATU unions during their meeting with the MEC and the NW Premier.

COSATU unions requested to meet with the employer, and the COSATU Provincial Office also requested a meeting to deal in particular with issues affecting mostly members of the communities and the employees. There was no response from the DoH except to say that employees are still under investigation.

In particular volunteers are being exploited by the employer in almost all the hospitals in the North West, but this is becoming an issue for concern in particular at the Rustenburg Provincial Hospital, where there has been no improvement since the withdrawal of the interdict by the so-called High Court of Bophuthatswana in South Africa.

The NW DoH is called to order by COSATU, which demands that the agreement reached at the chamber meeting held on 13 October 2006 be implemented as a matter of urgency.

The DoH quotes financial constraints as part of its reasons for not paying the progression and performance bonus to employees. This is not our members’ problem. They are not controlling your budget; it is controlled by the senior manager, whom we are calling upon to take responsibility for the poor managing of the budget, not our members. We demand that all that is due by the end of October 2006, as agreed by the chamber on 13 October 2006, should be paid to workers.

The response to the Employees Circular no. 10 of 2006 should be directed to the managers; it is for them and the DoH to make sure that employees are treated fairly.

We call upon the MEC of Health to take action against those who are implicated in the mismanaging the Department’s funds for their own individual benefit and demand an urgent meeting to deal with all issues raised by COSATU during the meeting with the MEC on 6 July 2006 and 6 September 2006 with the MEC and the Premier, including DoH officials.

Your style of operation, by provoking workers to embark on unlawful action with a view of interdicting the unions will no longer work. Your arrogance in responding to issues raised by workers is not going to work. The DoH must just accept that they have failed the workers and the people of North West in terms of service delivery.

For more information feel free to contact the COSATU NW Provincial Secretary, Solly Phetoe, @ 082 304 4055/ 018 462 2406