Contract workers must pay for pickets

THE WOES of 134 Extended Public Works Programme employees at the Northern Cape Department of Sport, Arts and Culture appear to be never-ending with the department now indicating that their salaries will be deducted for the time they picketed against their contracts being terminated.

The workers said yesterday that they had been informed by the department that deductions would be made on their salaries for the time they missed work.

The employees, who are members of Nehawu and the Public Service Association (PSA), picketed in front of the department’s head office after they were issued with termination letters.

Their contracts ended in September 30, however, the department recently announced that they would be reinstated for a further six months.

Employees said they were facing deductions ranging from R2 000 to R5 000.

Departmental spokesperson, Conrad Fortune, said the pickets were illegal, which resulted in the deductions.

“The industrial action, which the union members, officials and EPWP workers embarked on was not approved and therefore illegal. Therefore, the no work no pay principle will be instituted against these officials. The amount deducted will be determined to reflect the time that they were not at work.

“This matter was also timeously communicated to the employees, which means that they were well informed about the consequences of embarking on an illegal industrial action. We also need to indicate that this process started with a lunch hour picket and for this no deductions will be made. The only deductions that will be made are the personnel hours lost as a result of the illegal industrial action,” Fortune said.

Workers said the deductions were unfair as they were fighting for their rights.

They said the department was hitting them with a double blow after their daily rate was also cut.

Overspent

“According to the department, we will now only earn R85 per day and not R120 as before. They have admitted that they overspent on our salaries, yet they now want to rob of us of the little money we get,” they said.

They also claimed that the previous rate of R120 was paid for overtime.

“The R120 was paid to us for overtime. The Head of the Department had previously agreed to this rate but they now act as if we took the money without their knowledge,” they said.

Fortune, however, rubbished the claims.

“The allegation that we paid them R120 per day to cover for overtime is a blatant fallacy. As mentioned by MEC Bongiwe Mbinqo-Gigaba, the department admitted that we overpaid the EPWP workers and we are now rectifying the situation. It is clear that the EPWP workers are now shifting the goalposts as they are not happy with the reduction, which is understandable.

“However, to ensure that good governance and financial prudency is practiced, the department is guided by various policies to which we will adhere,” he said.

The branch chairperson of Nehawu in the department, Victor Modise, argued that the department was informed of the picket action in advance.

“The pickets were legal and notice about the action was given to the department. The HOD acknowledged it. The department now wants to fill its coffers with the employees’ money. They have admitted that they have overspent their budget.”

The acting deputy chairperson of Nehawu in the Frances Baard region, Isaac Shuping, said the union had not agreed to any of the decisions made by the department.

“We have not embarked on industrial action following the announcement that the workers will receive lower daily stipends. The department said the union had agreed to the reduction in the stipends, but that is a lie. We are still waiting to meet with the MEC to discuss the matter.

“According to the Chief Director of Corporate Services, the workers were supposed to upskill themselves during the time they were in the department, but that should have been the responsibility of the department. No worker wants to earn a stipend knowing they have the skills and experience to obtain work where they can earn a salary with benefits.

“There was no decision made on any of the issues we previously raised with the department. The department wants us to be happy that the workers got their jobs back, but none of the conditions were ever agreed on.

“We want the workers to be employed in the department permanently. Workers cannot be reinstated in the middle of October when their contracts ended at the end of September.

“The department is doing things through the backdoor to make up for the mess they created themselves,” said Shuping.