Under pressure after a wildcat strike, the Eastern Cape health department says it will finally cough up five months’ worth of unpaid overtime owed to Dora Nginza Hospital staff.

The affected staff members picketed outside the Gqeberha hospital on Monday, denying access to patients and colleagues who wanted to work.

The unions involved included Nupsaw, Nehawu, Denosa, Hospersa, and PSA.

Health spokesperson Siyanda Manana said though the strike was illegal, the payments would be processed.

“We are working on resolving the issue,” Manana said.

“We do, however, condemn the action they took when they closed the access gate, denying patients and staff access to the hospital.

“The employees cannot deny access to patients and other staff, and negotiations with the hospital’s management are underway at the moment to resolve the matter.

“A wildcat strike is not the way to go.

“A memorandum is going through an internal validation process, but the payments will be made.”

Nupsaw regional secretary Phumlani Matinise said workers only wanted what was due to them.

“Only clinical staff have been paid overtime from April until now — only the clinical staff, not the non-clinical,” Matinise said.

“That’s the situation at Dora at the moment.

“This issue of paying clinical staff but not non-clinical staff is causing division. We’ve got a real problem.”

Matinise said employees were feeling sidelined.

“Management has [allegedly] failed to consult or communicate with labour representatives about when payments will be made.

“There’s been no proper communication from management to labour reps, so they can inform staff about payment dates.

“Labour should not have to chase management just to find out when employees will be paid their overtime.

“The panic among staff is due to a lack of information. They only [allegedly] found out on Saturday, after checking their payslips, that the promised payment — which was supposed to be made by August 15 — wasn’t there.”

IOL News 

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