Strikers hamper efforts to send nuclear drugs overseas - Necsa

Cape Town – A strike on Tuesday at the nuclear facility in Pelindaba almost cost patients seeking their nuclear medicines, said Necsa chairperson Kelvin Kemm.

The strike at the nuclear facility occurred after the National Education, Health and Allied Workers Union (Nehawu) and the Pelindaba Workers Union said on Sunday that wage negotiations with Nuclear Energy Corporation of SA (Necsa) had proved fruitless, according to Business Day.

The strike on Tuesday ended at 16:00 that day after a settlement was reached, according to Kemm on Thursday.

“All workers earning less than R50 000 per month were given a salary increase of 7%,” he told Fin24. “All workers earning more than R50 000 per month were given an increase of 6.1%. Workers also demanded a once-off immediate bonus of R5 000, which they were given.”

This was higher than Necsa’s original 5.6% (below R50k) and R4.6% (above R50k), but below Nehawu’s 12% for those who earn R300 000 and below and 7%-10% for other earnings categories.

Nehawu said it wanted increases as “Necsa CEO Phumzile Tshelane, who is on a month-to-month contract, received a R600 000 increase in 2015,” reported Business Day. “It also complains of poor governance.”

Tshelane has court cases pending to have him placed on probation and another case to have him declared delinquent.

Necsa wants to play a major role in the nuclear build programme, but has refused to sign two sets of financial results (2014/15 and 2015/16) due to disagreement on how Necsa’s future decommissioning and decontamination costs at its Pelindaba site are to be determined, shared with government, accounted for and phased into the financials.

READ: Necsa and AG engage over decommissioning and decontamination costs

Necsa is a state-owned company responsible for undertaking and promoting research and development in the field of nuclear energy and radiation sciences. It is responsible for processing source material, including uranium enrichment, and co-operating with other institutions, locally and abroad, on nuclear and related matters.

Kemm alleged that some workers barricaded the gates to the Pelindaba property during the strike on Tuesday, which he said prevented shipments of essential nuclear medicine from leaving the site.

“Shipments of nuclear medicine to local customers were missed,” he said. “This probably produced great inconvenience to patients. Since nuclear medicine centres are extremely limited across the country, patients can travel hundreds of kilometres to present themselves for a scheduled appointment, only to be told to come back a few days later.”

“When asked by Necsa management to allow the essential medical supplies to leave the site they refused, saying that preventing the medical deliveries was part of their negotiating leverage,” said Kemm.

Speedy delivery hampered

A subsidiary of Necsa; NTP Radioisotopes, is currently the second largest exporter of nuclear medicine in the world, exporting daily to some 60 countries internationally, Kemm explained.

“Medical radioisotopes are only active for a few days, so speedy delivery is of the utmost importance,” he said. “NTP is internationally respected for the speed and efficiency of their deliveries, to centres all over the world.”

Total turnover for nuclear medicine sales at Necsa exceeded R1bn in the past financial year, said Kemm.

“When settlement was reached between Necsa and the union, the gate blockade was lifted at 16:00,” he said. “At that point one shipment to Turkey had been missed, but at 16:00 it was possible to get two shipments to the airport on time, for delivery to Brazil.

“At that point the medical production staff at NTP Radioisotopes volunteered to work throughout the night to enable other shipments, under a time-threat, to be delivered the next day,” he said.

“In contrast to some people involved in orchestrating the strike, the actions of the NTP medical production team were impressive beyond words. Such an attitude by production, QC and maintenance people at NTP, contributes towards South Africa’s professional image internationally, on the very visible nuclear stage.”

Nehawu had not responded to Fin24's request for comment at the time of publication.