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Johannesburg - Workers who have downed tools at the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa) are prepared to drag on a five-week long strike for as long as it takes for their demands to be met.
This is according to the National Trade Union Congress of South Africa (NTUC), which announced earlier this week that it had received 123 applications of membership from workers at Icasa.
The union secured membership of the workers, who previously belonged to the Communications Workers Union (CWU), as of Monday August 1 2016, said spokesperson Maston Phiri.
Icasa workers have been on a strike for the past five weeks, for “unilateral decisions” taken by the regulatory body which impact employment conditions.
“Policies have been implemented that talk to salary increments,” said Phiri. Workers are contesting that annual salary increments are being implemented on the basis of performance.
Another issue of the policy is the downgrade of their salary schemes. “If a worker is employed at a certain level, they have the risk of being downgraded,” Phiri said.
According to him, negotiations between the CWU and Icasa reached a deadlock which is why workers embarked on a strike. Workers then approached NTUC to represent them. “Part of the reason is they felt their previous union was not representing them.”
NTUC is prepared to represent workers beyond the strike, to address further issues. The next step is to formally introduce the NTUC to Icasa in terms of the Labour Relations Act, by the end of next week.
Phiri said a mediator is expected to be appointed on Thursday to reach an amicable agreement that will put an end to the strike.
Striking workers were not paid their salaries for July, he said. “This is a tactic to demoralise workers to go back to the office.”
The union is demanding that Icasa pays salaries for July. “[Workers] are prepared to go on strike for as long as it takes for demands to be met."
In a statement the union wrote: "We therefore take this opportunity to issue a warning to the management of Icasa to prepare itself for the battlefield ahead, for days of honeymoon, worker victimisation and exploitation is now indefinitely over as we prepare ourselves to take them on."
