Traffic officers stage picket
"They must give us flowers now and not wait for our graves to come with flowers. "
A group of Mpumalanga provincial traffic officers staged a peaceful lunchtime picket in front of the provincial traffic headquarters in De Clercq Street in Ermelo last Wednesday.
The group was protesting against unequal treatment and promotion opportunities in the different provinces and, as a spokesman for the group put it, “empty promises”.
“They must give us flowers now and not wait for our graves to come with flowers. Promotion must be used as a motivational tool and not an oppression tool to discourage officers from doing the good job they are doing on the roads,” he said.
He added that they want to see provincial traffic services being “nationalised” to ensure equal treatment of employees across the board.
It was stressed that the officers involved were participating in a protected industrial action and doing so in their lunch hour and that they would all be back at their posts within the hour to ensure the safety of all road users.
The spokesman said traffic officers in all provinces were planning to “march” to their respective provincial constituencies on Wednesday 29 June to air their grievances and to hand over a memorandum calling for the nationalisation of traffic and calling upon authorities to implement all signed agreements made thus far.
