10111 strike: Vavi slams govt
The South African government and the police department are complacent about resolving the 10111 wage strike because the emergency service is mostly used by poor black people, SA Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu) secretary-general Zwelinzima Vavi, pictured, said yesterday.
“Black people benefit from the 10111 service, people who call in are working-class and black … they are not the affluent. The higher middle class, the rich, including the billionaires, do not even know 10111,” Vavi told reporters in Johannesburg.
“They have panic buttons and private security contact numbers and are guaranteed response within five minutes … it is black people, the marginalised in society, who use the service, that is why the minister does not care.”
He likened the police department’s handling of the wage strike to the murder rate in Philippi’s Marikana informal settlement, Western Cape, where 11 people were shot and killed over the weekend.
“Over 30 black people have been killed there in Philippi over three weeks … will you see live TV images? Will you see the president or premier go there? Will [you] see them put up street lights or shifting resources to that area? None of that is going to happen … this is a black issue, a working-class issue.”
The only time black workers mattered to government was around elections time, he said.
South African Police Union (Sapu) members at the crime call centre first downed tools in July after wage negotiations deadlocked.
The strike was temporarily suspended a few days later as negotiations resumed at the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA).
The union then resumed the strike after accusing rival union Popcru (Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union) of stalling the CCMA talks.
The workers have demanded salary upgrades to be at the same level as other call centre workers at the department of home affairs, SA Social Security Agency (Sassa), SA Revenue Service (Sars) and the presidential hotline, among others. The salary upgrades were recommended in 2013 by a task team set up by former police commissioner Riah Phiyega.
Sapu stood its ground last week when police management instructed the striking workers to return to work by Friday or face disciplinary charges because the strike was unprotected. – ANA