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COPS CALLED IN FOR PICKETING EX-TLC EMPLOYEES

By Kwanele Sibiya | 2024-01-15

Police had to be roped in as about 30 former employees of The Luke Commission (TLC) convened next to the hospital premises to deliver a petition, demanding, among other things a settlement agreement payment.

They claim that their contracts were terminated prematurely before the agreed period. The 30 are among the 160 employees who were retrenched last month.

The former employees also demanded long service and notice pay from the hospital.They alleged that the authorities of the hospital promised to take care of them and protect them.

“They said we won’t struggle financially, however, they have failed to pay us on time,” alleged the former workers. They claimed that they had been summoned to a meeting by the authorities where they were told that they had been laid off from work, but after some time, they received SMSes informing them that they had been retrenched.

They accused the hospital of breaching the contracts, as some claimed that their contracts were to elapse on September this year.

The workers said they were supposed to be notified about the termination of the contracts 90 days before the contracts were terminated.

“They should have given us a three months’ notice as per the provision of Section 32 of the employment Act,” they said.

They demanded that the hospital furnish them with a notice pay as well as their settlement agreement fee, since, according to the law, if there was an existing contract that was terminated, they should receive all their benefits contained therein.

They further demanded long service payment.
The former workers also demanded to know the criteria used by the hospital when deciding which worker to retrench.

They also requested a copy of the letter from the office of the labour commissioner indicating that they were being laid off or retrenched lawfully.

They claimed that workers who were of foreign origin at the hospital were receiving special treatment as they were allegedly paid higher wages.

delivery
It is worth noting, however, that the petition delivery was a futile exercise as a battalion of police officers, who were camped by the entrance of the hospital, prevented the workers from delivering the petition.

An officer who was in charge of the operation, who was only identified as Tsabedze, is said to have informed the workers that they were not allowed to deliver the petition at the hospital due to safety reasons, which he frankly refused to unpack.

As a result, the workers who had assembled next to Tri-Cash dispersed after effortlessly trying to negotiate with the police to allow them to deliver the petition. They decided to go back to the labour commissioner’s office, where they were allegedly informed to come back on Monday.

Deputy Chief Police Information and Communications Officer (PICO) Inspector Nosipho Mguni confirmed that police were deployed to the TLC to maintain peace an order yesterday.
She said it was the duty of the police to maintain law and order in the country and therefore, there was nothing special about the TLC incident.

One of the retrenched employees, Sizwe Tsabedze, claimed that when they enquired about their packages, they were made to run from pillar to post.

He said this prompted them to deliver the petition yesterday, detailing their grievances.
He said they wanted to give the hospital a seven-day ultimatum to respond to their grievances, failing which, they would escalate the matter.

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