From Chief Negotiator regarding bargaining resolutions and inputs thereof: ...................... Good Afternoon Comrades, Thank you very much for your inputs to the resolutions of the 1st national bargaining conference of DENOSA. All the inputs are noted and they will be taken forward as we engage the employer. These resolutions will guide or inform our engagement with the employer during this financial year. This implies that these resolutions are the mandates that must guide the chief negotiator as he engages the employer throughout the year. This means therefore that some of the issues may not be addressed as soon as we wish because of the processes that we need to follow. The processes that we need to observe are not standardized, this means the speed of resolving issues will differ from time to time depending to different factors that influence the urgency of decision-making. For example, if our members decide to wear PJs at work as a way of putting pressure on non-payment of uniform allowance, the employer would quickly respond because of the embarrassment. This also means that the pace of resolving matters will differ from year to year as we move forward. For example, the tactic we used in 2007 may not be applicable in 2014 due to various factors like the changing of ministers in both DoH and DPSA. Each minister comes with his or her own style of leadership. We have witnessed in the few years that one minister may be biased towards labour and his or her successor may be actually hostile towards labour. We are therefore confronted by those circumstances when we engage the employer. Let me quickly outline the processes that will unfold upon having these 2014 resolutions: On The 2015 Salary Negotiations: 1. DENOSA Mandated Demands have been forwarded to COSATU Joint Mandating Committee (JMC) for consolidation with those of other unions like POPCRU, SADTU and NEHAWU. 2. There will be one document that will be produced from the demands of all these unions 3. Each union will then communicate these consolidated demands back to members 4. The unions will then give feedback of the response from members back to JMC 5. JMC will then consolidate the response and give back to unions 6. Unions must take it back to members for the endorsement of the mandated demands as the final document that will be tabled for negotiations 7. Please note that the Independent Labour Caucus (ILC) like PSA, HOSPERSA, SAPU & NAPTOSA which are not COSATU affiliates will follow their own processes in collecting the mandates, if they are having any 8. COSATU and ILC will then combine the demands and come up with one document 9. The labour mandated demands will then be tabled at PSCBC for negotiations 10. The negotiations will start in the third quarter of 2014 and be concluded in the first quarter of 2015 if parties come to an agreement. If not, the negotiations may drag up to the second quarter of 2015 and beyond 11. Once the negotiations commence, we will follow all the processes in place to consult members up to the end of negotiations. It is my pleasure to announce that the DENOSA bargaining conference had also resolved on the Consulting Model. It therefore remains imperative that this model must be observed all the time. The Consulting Model was posted yesterday. The demand on Financial Assistance or Bursary for children of government employees has been added as sponsored by Eastern Cape. On matters that are at PHSDSBC: 1. The chief negotiator of DENOSA had written to the chief negotiator of DoH to engage on those issues that can be resolved on bilateral, for example the non-implementation or wrong implementation of some resolutions like the Grade Progression from OSD document, Recognition of Improved qualifications and other resolutions. The reason of taking this route is to shorten the response time in dealing with matters. The matters that we take to council take much longer to resolve because we have to wait for scheduled meetings as it happens at provincial chambers. 2. The other matters have been already tabled to council for negotiations like the nurses’ uniform, rural allowance, review of OSD and the others. 3. Our call in reviewing OSD is informed by the outcry that some categories or levels of nursing never benefitted as envisaged. The general feeling is that the remuneration of OSD focused on areas of speciality leaving out the other important areas like nursing education and general nursing and other areas. We want to take the attention of employer to those areas that were left out. If we have to use this document as is, we won’t win the debate because the institutions are implementing what is in the document which is favouring employer when there is a dispute. So, we need to introduce what we will cover everybody. The remuneration in years of experience, the grade progression is also a thorny issue that needs to be reviewed. The rest of the resolutions need to be processed internally by DENOSA. I will give progress report on quarterly basis or earlier if the need arises. I welcome all the inputs comrades as you empower me with the information as people who are directly affected by the working conditions of the employer, both in private and public sectors. Unfortunately comrades, I cannot respond to all the comments you have made but I certainly take serious note of them. Compiled By Khaya Sodidi Chief Negotiator
Posted on: Wed, 09 Jul 2014 16:04:13 +0000
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