Do not get sick or be involved in an accident on March 31. This is the day earmarked by the Emergency Medical Rescue Services (EMRS) as ‘Do or Die’ day.
This is not the first time the EMRS staff has threatened to down tools.
Paramedics have urged the KZN Health Department under Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo to start taking essential workers concerns seriously.
EMRS workers have been unhappy with their lot since 2012. Their gripes include poor wages and working conditions, including a lack of proper resources.
“There are several individual claims of not being paid based on qualification and grade. The Department continuously states that the situation is complex. Even so, it should not take years to resolve.”
In a statement to the Courier they claimed that workers are living in fear of the head of their department, Dr SM Zungu, who is said to have undermined instructions from the Director General of Health nationally and continued to dismiss workers unfairly. “Some cannot receive their pension because the attorneys forced them to resign but on the system it shows that they were dismissed. Dr Zungu, is also refusing to implement a policy on overtime she signed in 2008.
“Unions are afraid of her therefore we have no alternative but to take matters into our own hands on March 31.”