This news aggregator site highlights South African labour news from a wide range of internet and print sources. Each posting has a synopsis of the source article, together with a link or reference to the original. Postings cover the range of labour related matters from industrial relations to generalist human resources.Sowetan reports that Gauteng mortuaries will be plunged into a crisis should workers continue to refuse to dissect corpses.
This was the warning in papers filed by the provincial health department at the Johannesburg Labour Court on Monday.
The department is going to court today in a bid to have the strike action by forensic officers at 11 mortuaries in Gauteng declared illegal.
Workers have been refusing to dissect bodies since March 7, their complaint being that they do not have the necessary training.
The South African Liberated Public Sector Workers Union (Salipswu) accused the department of reneging on a June 2017 agreement to train the workers. Chief executive for forensic pathology services, Dr Medupe Modisane, said in court papers the strike could drive mortuaries into crisis mode.
“Should the respondents continue not to perform their duties, this will cause a crisis and this crisis has the potential of continuing for a prolonged period.”
He said they hoped the court would put an end to the strike.
He said the Germiston mortuary remained the worst affected as workers there were refusing to perform dissections. They were relying on minimal staff at other mortuaries to perform the procedures.
There was a backlog of about 65 bodies on Tuesday, said Modisane, and they expected the numbers to escalate as new bodies are brought in.
The national secretary for Salipswu, Moses Tsotetsi, said yesterday that workers were not on strike but were refusing to do work which they were not trained for.
He said workers were performing other duties such as picking up bodies and attending court proceedings.
“No bodies have been left in the streets and at hospitals. We dispute the allegations that workers are on an industrial action. We regret that families who are waiting to bury their loved ones are made to suffer, but the blame should go to the department,” said Tsotetsi.
The original of this report by Zoë Mahopo appeared on page 9 of Sowetan of 15 march 2018
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