NEHAWU leaders picketed outside the Union Buildings in Tshwane yesterday to get President Cyril Ramaphosa to respond to their demands.
They said they delivered a memorandum of demands to the Presidency on 3 September.
The deadline for his response was on 10 September, but he allegedly didn’t meet the deadline.
Union spokesman Khaya Xaba said Nehawu wrote to the president on 1 September to remind him about an ultimatum which had expired and informed him about their intention to withdraw labour.
He said the Presidency only acknowledged receipt of the letter and nothing about responding to the union’s demands.
He said their demands were related to health and frontline workers who got infected by Covid-19, as well as proper compensation during the pandemic.
“A total of 32 429 health workers contracted the virus, while 257 lost their lives as of September 11 as per statistics provided by the Department of Health,” he said.
Xaba said they were fighting for public servants, including healthcare workers, to receive salary increases after government reneged on its 2018 three-year salary increase agreement.
Xaba said they planned to protest outside the Union Buildings until Ramaphosa responded to their demands.
“We won’t leave the Union Buildings and the Premier’s Office until the president addresses us and resolves our issues.”
They were also worried about the latest incident where guns and ammunition were found stashed at Soweto’s Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital.
