Democratic Alliance (DA) shadow health MEC, Jack Bloom, has welcomed ‘signs’ in the Public Health Bargaining Council that the strike in Gauteng mortuaries could be over soon.
The strike, which has been going on for almost three weeks, has left relatives of the deceased suffering immense trauma due to the delay in releasing bodies for burial.
Among the worst affected are the Hillbrow, Diepkloof and Germiston government mortuaries.
Read: MUST READ: No end in sight for mortuary strike
According to media reports, there is a backlog of more than 200 autopsies that still need to be performed and Bloom said it will take some time to clear.
Bloom said the Essential Services Committee established under Section 70 of the Labour Relations Act designates both forensics and mortuaries as essential services where strikes are prohibited and grievances should be settled by arbitration.
He said the strike should have been halted in the beginning by court action by the Gauteng Health Department.
“The striking forensic pathologist officers are not justified in refusing to do ‘out-of-scope’ work, as part of their job definition is that they assist with autopsies under supervision.
“I doubt the union’s claims that drivers and cleaners were doing post-mortems and this was a reason for the strike,’ said Bloom.
The department’s spokesperson Khutso Rabothata, when contacted on 22 June said, “At the moment we don’t have anything to report on as the negotiations are still underway. We will put the outcome of the talk in a media statement which will be issued soon,” he said.
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According to a recent job advertisement for a Grade 1 Forensic Pathology Officer, Bloom said they should ‘assist in rendering an efficient forensic autopsy process’. This includes evisceration, transcribing and typing in accordance with set standards and guidelines by assisting the forensic pathologists in autopsies, he said.
He said Gauteng Health MEC Gwen Ramokgopa wrongly agreed with unions that the is not a strike but a ‘work to rule’.
The reason the strike has gone on for so long is that the forensic assistants are still getting paid and there is no pressure on them to settle, he said.
Details: JBloom@gpl.gov.za
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