Patients at the government-run Free State Psychiatric Complex in Mangaung have been without care since Friday after hospital staff went on strike. Nurses, ancillary and laundry workers accuse the government of cheating them by shortpaying, not paying for overtime and failing to convert some workers’ contracts into permanent positions, as they were promised.
Eric Mothae, a nurse, says that the facility’s management is flouting labour practice, warning that “the complex’s hospitals might be closed since there is no basic occupational safety practice”.
“We are witnessing other health facilities being closed down by the labour department throughout the province due to the lack of occupational health and safety, and the lack of tools of trade. We will experience the same here. The buildings are dilapidating,” he says.
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According to Mothae, the ceiling is leaking, and they’re worried that it can fall. The walls are damaged, and the grass around the hospital building is overgrown.
Free State health spokesperson Mondli Mvambi says the hospital complex is being refurbished.
“The hospital is old and we are fixing sites which require our attention, and we are doing so in phases. We will eventually reach those areas which workers have made us aware of,” he says.
Demands for back pay
But the main gripe is the short payment of workers. Mothae claims that employees are working 12-hour shifts, but are only paid for seven hours.
“Who do they pay our money to? They owe us a lot of money, these people, yet they are not showing any signs that they are going to pay us. We will down tools until they decide to engage us on all things we have raised on Friday.”
He says the workers have given management proof of how much they owe each worker, and the response was that management needs to make submissions to the health MEC and the Head of Department before the full payments can be made. But workers are not willing to wait for this process to unfold.
“We have since indicated to them that we don’t want to wait long. They should have made those submissions long ago. We are in a situation where we need the attention of the MEC in this regard because we have been raising these matters with the last administration. We told them that we are still underpaid when we compare ourselves with other workers from other provinces,” he adds.
Mvambi says the office of the MEC and of the Head of Department will engage and “respond at the earliest convenient time”.
Security concerns
Meanwhile, workers who are on contracts have requested the MEC to speed up the permanent contract, claiming that they are without job security.
“We are not getting the financial help we deserve out there because we are contracted workers. We were promised permanent positions last year, but to this day we are without them,” says Tiisetso Motaung, who is working at the psychiatric laundry.
He further accuses the government of turning a blind eye to the security of patients and workers at night, citing a lack of security at night. “Criminals enter the hospitals without being caught because there is no security at night. We are being mugged every night, and the employer isn’t doing anything about the issue.”
But Mvambi denies allegations of security gaps.
“We have never heard about any criminal incident at the complex, and we call on workers who have experienced such to come forward with their claims. We have security at all of our facilities,” he says. – Health-e News
