National Education, Health and Allied Workers' Union (Nehawu) members handed over a memorandum of demands to government yesterday at the Union Buildings in Pretoria.

Deputy health minister Dr Joe Phaahla accepted the memorandum.

Nehawu is protesting against the salaries of public servants not being increased and lapses in the provision of personal protective equipment (PPE) for front-line workers during the Covid-19 pandemic.

In Cape Town, a group of Nehawu protesters was dispersed by police in front of  parliament.

Mass gatherings remain prohibited under the Covid-19 lockdown regulations.

Nehawu spokesperson Khaya Xaba said: “We demand full compliance with the Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Act by all workplaces and ensuring that risk assessments and infection control and prevention measures are put in place, and the immediate establishment of OHS committees in all workplaces.  

“Infected workers must return to work only on the following conditions: they have completed the mandatory 10 days of self-isolation, they have undergone a medical evaluation confirming fitness to work, [and] they strictly adhere to personal hygiene, wearing of masks and social distancing,” Xaba said.

The union is seeking to explicitly prohibit managers from issuing or communicating any kind of threats or intimidating notices or letters to workers in such a way that they are forced to work when they have been diagnosed with Covid-19.

The union's also demands for improved workplace safety is based on “credible figures of the total workforce” and the type of work performed by occupational categories of employees.

“We [also] demand government urgently fill all vacant posts in the public healthcare sector and ensure that we start to build the building blocks for the implementation of the National Health Insurance [NHI] scheme,” said the union.

They also call for “the abolishment of salary level 1 and 2 in the public service”.

The union said it requires a response within a period of seven days, failing which it will declare an intention to embark on a work stoppage from September 10.

“There is no justification whatsoever for government’s failure to comply with the occupational health and safety legislation and regulations that seeks to protect workers, especially those in the front line of combating the pandemic,” said the memorandum.

The union's members last week downed tools at the National Health Laboratory Services (NHLS), despite a labour court interdict declaring it unlawful.