Workers of the Central Johannesburg College (CJC) abandoned their posts at the Alexandra campus to attend an urgent picket at the college’s main campus in Parktown on Tuesday.
This follows the workers not being paid what they believe they deserve and some who have been contract workers for more than half a decade.
Finance officer for the Alex campus, Vongani Chauke, told Alex News that issues have been raised with management since 2015 and a resolution has still not been found. “We met with the board and told them what our issues are, but it does not look like they take us seriously,” Chauke said.
He said the college’s selection process for the appointment of new staff is also one that needs to be questioned. “There are staff members who have been on contract for five years and have not been made permanent, yet people who came after them have got permanent positions. That also raises a lot of questions.”
He said the entire staff across all campuses of the college were affected by this and it has now got to a point where students have been affected. “As we speak, classes here [Alex campus] have not been in session for more than three weeks and exams are just around the corner.”
He said the staff are willing to stay away from work for as long as the matter remains unresolved. “We don’t want the students to suffer, so if they respond to our issues, we are willing to put in extra hours at no charge to make sure the students are well prepared for the exams.”
Chauke claimed that the principal of the college, Desmond April did not want to sign off on the approval of salary increases by the education department. “The department has signed an approval for salary increases, but [April] refuses to sign them.”
However, April rubbished claims made by Chauke, saying the matter has been resolved. “The issue has been addressed and payments are being processed,” he said.
He said staff members will receive bank notifications regarding this issue. “For some, it might take a day and for others, it will take longer, but they will be paid what is due to them.” April could not confirm whether the staff would be back paid for all the years they have worked for the college.
The Department of Education could not respond to Alex News’ enquiry, saying April was the person to speak to.
Read: CJC activities are back to normal
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