Klipspruit: ASHA workers go on a protest
NEHAWU union members at ASHA pre-schools go on a strike, following the delayed salaries last year December and the saga of their C.O.O who resigned last year December and hasn't left until now.
Members of the National Health Education & Allied Workers Union (NEHAWU) at ASHA Preschools protested on Wednesday, April 12. The protest took place at their head offices in Klipspruit.
This follows the salary payments delays and no bonuses in December last year, workers alleged that sometimes their salaries are paid in halves or they do not get paid at all, they do not agree with the fact that they are expected to pay the fees, for their children who are attending at ASHA.
According to NEHAWU, ASHA has 41 crèches and receives a subsidy of R15 million from the Department of Social Development per annum. They have 376 employees, 350 of these employees are union members of NEHAWU.
“The COO must leave, ASHA does not have policies, and they are running this association as if it’s a backyard business, it is very painful because associations such as ASHA were given to us by white people, it paints us black as black people, being given this legacy that we are expected to maintain but we seem to be failing, and unfortunately the child that suffers is a black child,” said Ncedo Ngcama, Regional Organiser of NEHAWU in Johannesburg.
Some parents were left stranded as they had to find alternative day care for their children; some were turned back, which meant that they were not notified about this strike.
Sibongile Dube, Chairperson of Nehawu, urged workers to write apology letters to parents for the inconvenience.
“Comrades, we need these parents to win this battle, we are not fighting with them, they did nothing to us, they pay their monthly fees accordingly, we, therefore, need to respect them and inform them about our every move, we cannot afford to have them on the other side of the battle,” she said.
After hours of negotiations between the interim board and NEHAWU, they did not come to an agreement, in fact, Masango said that he is not going anywhere.
Ngcama said that the strike is not over, and this was just a warning shot, they are giving the board seven days to sort out the issue and if nothing happens then, the strike will continue on April 18.
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