Service delivery at the Master of the High Court office in PMB ground to a halt during a staff picket on Thursday.
|||Durban - Service delivery at the Master of the High Court office in Pietermaritzburg ground to a halt on Thursday as staff staged a picket inside the building, while members of the public watched in dismay.
Between 150 and 200 protesting employees demanded their grievances be addressed by the Master, Seeta Gengai, and the national office.
Lindo Mkhize, a shop steward for the National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu) told the Daily News on Thursday that the strike had been going on since Tuesday, and staff were tired of being ignored.
One of the issues of contention include merit and notch performance payments that the union said should have been made in June, but had not.
“How long do they expect us to wait? Apart from the non-payment, we are also experiencing unfair treatment based on race, and there is no room for advancement in this office,” Mkhize said.
He said there was a lack of communication between management and employees, and another serious gripe that employees have revolved around the occupational specific dispensation (OSD).
Staff, Mkhize said, were finding it impossible to accept that employees with a matric certificate were on a higher salary scale compared to their colleagues with tertiary qualifications.
The Daily News was shown certain documents that stated a person in an estate controller position, with an LLB degree, earned R131 601 annually, while a chief administration clerk, with a Grade 12 pass, earned a salary of between R170 799 to R201 195 a year.
“It is a joke. Supervisors are earning less than the people they supervise. Nowhere else in the world does that happen. There are still apartheid principles at work here. Our value is being undermined,” an employee said.
Striking workers called for a spreadsheet with employees’ names, qualifications and salaries to be disclosed to them so they could see for themselves the “inequality” that existed.
Employee Benedict Thompson said he had been working in the Masters office for 40 years, and was still on a “level 3” salary scale.
“I should be on a level 6 by now, but there is no room for growth here. It is a disgrace that we are exploited in this way. Nobody cares about us,” Thompson said.
Gengai addressed striking employees saying representatives from the national office were ready to resolve the issues.
Gengai said payment of the merit and notch assessments would be made by March 10.
This news was not well received as the crowd booed.
“If you are unhappy with this, then certain processes must be followed,” she said.
Addressing the issue of the spreadsheet, Gengai said this was not a possibility, as this involved employees’ personal and confidential information.
Gengai asked for the shop stewards to meet with representatives from the national office in an attempt to resolve the situation.
Daily News