Unions tell health workers to stay home

SOME schools may be without community health-care workers when schools reopen on Monday after the Health and Other Services Personnel Trade Union of South Africa (Hospersa) told them not to report for duty until unions are consulted on their deployment to a different sector.

The union represents 60 000 healthcare workers.

Hospersa claims unions were sidelined and is now demanding that the

Health Department immediately withdraw its plans to use the services of the workers to screen pupils.

Hospersa KZN chairperson Thami Zondi said the union condemned the decision to “loan” community healthcare workers to the Education Department. He said the government’s treatment of community health-care workers was a slap in the face for front-line workers who had been at the coalface of the pandemic, carrying much-needed health services to communities without recognition.

“As the union representing many community health-care workers and caregivers, we are disturbed that the provincial government has made the loan announcement without due consultation with labour. Our understanding has always been that it is the Expanded Public Works Programme and the Youth Brigades who would be assisting with the screening at schools,” said Zondi.

He said they were concerned about who would do the normal job that community health-care workers did, saying there was a huge backlog caused by the lockdown, where many home-based patients defaulted on their treatment as they were unable to collect their medication from local facilities.

Zondi said the working conditions of workers should be negotiated, especially when deploying them to another sector.

Education Department spokesperson Muzi Mahlambi said committees were established both in the health and education sectors where unions were represented.

The Department of Health was not available for comment.