Sassa strike on the cards

A union representing the SA social security agency workers is gearing up for a national strike, Rekord East reports.

The national education, health and allied workers union (Nehawu) said its members would embark on a strike next month over “low wages” among others.

“A national meeting will be convened on 5 October to consolidate the mandate from the members before the strike commences five days later on the 10th,” the union said in a statement.

“Nehawu will mobilise all its members and workers at Sassa to join the strike to send a strong message to management that we will not tolerate their act of arrogance and failure to treat workers with dignity.”

Sassa is a government agency responsible for the payment of social grants to millions of beneficiaries.

The union said it met with the Sassa management last month to resolve all the issues workers were unhappy with.

“Though the union has been very patient in giving the management an opportunity to concede to our demands, however, our patience has run out after we came to the realisation that Sassa has no intention of conceding to our demands hence we took the decision to go on strike.”

The agency could not be reached for comment.

A few months ago, Sassa workers affiliated with the public service association also embarked on a strike over wages.

The union, in that case, also accused the employer of failing to accede to its demands.