Nurses’ union threatens stay-away if frontline workers aren’t taken care of

With the Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa (Denosa) already having conveyed their disappointment that nurses weren’t included in the relief plan presented by President Cyril Ramaphosa on Tuesday evening, another nurses’ union has threatened that the 10 000 frontline workers it represents may stage a stay-away on Worker’s Day. 

The Young Nurses Indaba Trade Union (YNITU) have called for a six-month tax break for nurses, who have also been promised a pay increase since the start of the year. 

“We are calling for a stay-away that will commence on May 1 should the president not adhere to the demands of healthcare professionals, particularly frontline staff who are nurses,” said YNITU president Lerato Madumo-Gova.

She has given government two weeks to respond. 

Dangerous working conditions

She said that the nurses were currently being made to work in increasingly dangerous environments, and accused government of not having provided frontline staff with sufficient personal protective equipment (PPE), as well as failing to make good on promises of a pay increase. 

“We have exposed our frontline workers to this virus, but we couldn’t even give them basic protection equipment. They had to try and protect themselves and stick to their pledge of service,” she said.

“The strategies that were put in place never took the needs of frontline workers into consideration – for example, the transportation that was supposed to be there for frontline staff, so that this virus does not go with them into taxis into their homes and communities and back to work,” said added.

She said that money was not the real root of her union’s frustration, but rather, it would seem, the disregard for nurses during this pandemic. 

“It’s not even about money. It’s about being able to say, ‘We are aware that a taxi that usually cost you R10 [will cost more] during this time because you had to club together and pay R200 to get to work.”

‘It’s not about the money’  

She said that Ramaphosa’s comprehensive social and economic relief package, consisting of a R500 billion injection into the economy and social grants structure, was receiving deserved plaudits, however took exception to the fact that nurses weren’t being treated as more of a priority role-player in the fight against the virus. 

“It must be clear: we have no problem with the social development outreach that was announced yesterday. As nurses, we treat the poorest of the poor. For them to remain in good health they do need those particular grants,” she said.