Labour court judge André van Niekerk on Monday upheld an order by a colleague interdicting the National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu) from embarking on a work stoppage in support of demands for higher wages.
The department of public service & administration successfully approached the court on Saturday for an order interdicting the strike from going ahead from Monday. Judge Edwin Tlhotlhalemaje undertook to file reasons for his ruling on Monday.
But Nehawu, one of the largest unions of labour federation Cosatu, lodged an appeal against the ruling on Sunday, stressing that as a result of this action the strike would go ahead as planned. On Monday, the department and acting public service & administration minister Thulas Nxesi approached the court for an order granting them leave to execute Tlhotlhalemaje’s ruling.
In his ruling, Van Niekerk said: “In relation to irreparable harm, the case made by the applicant that it will suffer irreparable harm should the order not be granted, as will members of the public who seek to access a variety of public services, is not seriously disputed.”
Van Niekerk said “the only harm that the union contends it will suffer relates to the costs of the strike”. The union did not elaborate on this issue, “nor is there any attempt to quantify this ‘substantive expenditure’.”
“The applicant is granted leave to execute the order issued by Tlhotlhalemaje on March 4 2023,” he said.
The court order effectively means Nehawu is interdicted from going ahead with the industrial action. Union spokesperson Lwazi Nkolonzi said the Nehawu legal team was still studying the judgment. “A way forward will be communicated,” he said.
Disruptions at some medical facilities were reported on Monday, and Nehawu deputy secretary-general December Mavuso said union members in the departments of higher education, home affairs and public service, as well as the magistrate’s courts, had also downed tools.
“I have noted that some Nehawu members have embarked on illegal action of blocking entry to government buildings,” Nxesi said in a media briefing on Monday afternoon.
Industrial action needs to be within the confines of the law, he said, and two cars that had “illegally blocked” the entrance to his department’s building have been removed. The blockade resulted in departmental officials having to “work from home for the better half of the morning”.
Nxesi urged unions to return to the public service co-ordinating bargaining council (PSCBC) to resolve disputes in an orderly manner through dialogue.
A strike notice delivered to the department of public service & administration in February, which Business Day has seen, warned that government employees would strike if the government does not accede to workers’ demands for a 10% wage increase. The strike on Monday was blamed on the government’s “refusal”, among other factors.
The disgruntled unions, representing thousands of the more than 1.3-million public servants, have refused to take part in the 2023/2024 wage talks, which began at the PSCBC in February, until the wage dispute arising from the 2022/2023 negotiations is addressed.
The talks kicked off with the employer tabling a 4.7% wage offer in the first year, followed by inflation-linked increases in the 2024/2025 and 2025/2026 financial years.
The unions include Nehawu, the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru), the Democratic Nursing Organisation of SA (Denosa), the National Union of Public Service and Allied Workers (Nupsaw), the SA Policing Union (Sapu), the Public and Allied Workers Union of SA (Pawusa), the SA Emergency Personnel’s Union (Saepu) and SA Medical Association Trade Union (Samatu).
The unions are still angry after Nxesi unilaterally implemented a 3% pay hike for public servants in 2022. The government had said the increase, which includes an extension of the R1,000 aftertax cash gratuity, was in line with its commitment to rein in the public sector wage bill, which accounts for more than one-third of government spending.
With TimesLIVE
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