Parliament has been warned that its operations will come to a standstill if workers' demand for a 10 percent wage increase is not met. Parliamentary workers have been on a go-slow and staging pickets for a week since negotiations reached deadlock on August 11.
The National Education, Health and Allied Workers Union (Nehawu) said on Wednesday that work in committees would grind to a halt as clerks and secretaries are set to join the action on Thursday. Parliament on Wednesday sent out an e-mail to employees stating that despite the union's demands, its tabled offer of a 7 percent increase would be implemented on October 15. Workers are demanding a 10 percent increase.
Nehawu's spokesman at Parliament, Tebogo Tsheole, said this was a clear indication that employees were not being taken seriously. They now had no option but to resort to a full-blown strike which would prevent Parliament from working. "There is no democracy in Parliament, which is supposed to embody it. The workers are united - work at Parliament will come to a standstill," said shop-steward Disang Mocumi.
On Tuesday, Nehawu handed a memorandum of demands to Parliament's chief operations officer, Tango Lamani. Thursday evening Lamani said he was not aware of the developments as he was in Johannesburg. Hundreds of employees demonstrated outside Parliament on Wednesday. But Parliament spokesman Luzuko Jacobs said the offer would not be reconsidered.
Source: IoL
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