EMPLOYEES at the Evuxakeni Psychiatric Hospital in Giyani have threatened to down tools if hospital management does not address performance bonus qualifying issues.
The workers said they were unhappy with management’s altering of an assessment that was done in 2012 where, according to the workers, most employees qualified for performance bonuses. They claimed that the hospital management revised the list and said only 20% of the hospital’s workers qualified for performance bonuses.
The workers, who were picketing in their lunch hour last Monday, said the performance management system that the hospital used to measure individuals’ performance required an employee to receive a minimum of three positive ratings.
“If a worker gets less than three positive ratings, that means that he will have to go before a disciplinary board,” one of the picketing workers, who wished to remain anonymous, told CV.
“We are resolved to go on a slow strike because, since we are already deemed under-performing, there is no reason for us to do more than what is expected of us.”
Strike leaders of the Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa (Denosa) and the National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu) spoke to CV on condition on anonymity and said they feared they would lose their jobs, because of their involvement in the organisation of the protest action.
“We are in the build-up to a full-blown strike and we have to remain anonymous to protect ourselves. If the situation does not change and we go on to strike, we will reveal our identities,” one leader said.
“Our main problem is that we want to know how the new assessment was done, but management will not explain this process to us. We asked them to show us the lists that they used during their assessment that shows only 20% of us qualify for bonuses, but they refused,” he said.
CV spoke to health spokesperson, Macks Lesufi about the looming strike at Evuxakeni Psychiatric Hospital and he said it was a “non-story” but failed to explain why he thought this story was not worth telling.
Lesufi promised to explain his answer later, but by the time of going to print, he was not available for comment.
