Union negotiates with Free State to get book packers’ jobs back

The Free State education department’s abrupt decision to shut down all 10 of its learning material and stationery warehouses in 2017 may come back to haunt it.

Almost 300 of the department’s former contract workers want to be rehired, this time on a permanent basis.

The group is being represented in the dispute by the Public Servants Association of South Africa (PSA) union in a dispute lodged with the Education Labour Relations Council.

The book packers used to work at the department’s warehouses, located in Welkom, Allanridge, Marquard, Petrus Steyn, Heilbron, Kroonstad, Qwaqwa, Harrismith, Koffiefontein and Mangaung.

After being operational for close to a decade, all 10 warehouses were suddenly closed, leaving about 600 employees without jobs.

The department had been renting the warehouses in nine of the areas, barring the Mangaung warehouse in Bloemfontein, which it owns.

PSA labour relations officer Jantjie Jack told OFM News that the basis of their argument was that the department had created a “reasonable expectation” of employment when they renewed the employees’ contracts each year.

Jack confirmed some employees were on contracts, renewed annually, for seven years or more.

In early 2018, Howard Ndaba said the warehouses were never meant to be a permanent part of the department and the employees were always aware of this.

Jack, on the other hand, argued that if the employees were seasonal labourers who worked over December and January preparing for the beginning of the school year, then yes, that would be a valid point.

However, these people worked full time for the education department, with their contracts being renewed year after year.

The PSA said the 2015 amendment to the Labour Relations Act regarding contract workers also leans in their favour.

The Act limits contract work to three months without a justifiable reason. It states, “employment in terms of a fixed-term contract [newly concluded or renewed] for longer than three months will be deemed to become permanent employment – with some exceptions. Note – an employer cannot circumvent this provision by using successive fixed-term contracts limited to three months each. It is not the current contract period, but the total period of employment, that must not exceed three months”.

On the closure of the warehouses, a former admin clerk at the Marquard warehouse, who asked not to be named, said they were informed the department had closed the warehouses down due to financial constraints.

Ndaba vehemently denied the 600 employees were casualties of the department’s financial woes. He also maintained the shutdown did not impact the delivery of learning materials to schools.

He said top-ups of learning material and stationery are being delivered to the schools in the province directly from the publishers and companies.

The applicants and respondents in the matter are in the process of submitting closing arguments this week, after which the bargaining council will take 14 days to reach a decision on the matter.

– OFM News

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