Trade union Public Servants Association of South Africa (PSA) says it is giving KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) MEC for the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta), Sipho Hlomuka, five days to address the demands of contract workers within his department.
The union wants the MEC to permanently appoint all 136 employees who have been on contract for years. According to the union, these workers have been denied benefits such as contribution to a pension fund, medical aid and other employment benefits. Union’s provincial manager, Mlungisi Ndlovu says protracted discussions with the department have taken place but without success.
“Some of them have been on contract for more than 10 years. You can imagine these people have no benefits as PSA in KZN, we reject any form of exploitation and we expect government to be able to protect the rights of our employees – which [are] protected by the constitution. It is for these reasons we call on Sipho Hlomuka to intervene and ensure that all the 136 employees are converted,” says Ndlovu
.
