Nehawu spokesperson Khaya Xaba said: “We demand full compliance with the Occupational Health and Safety Act by all workplaces and ensuring that risk assessments and infection control and prevention measures are put in place, and the immediate establishment of OHS committees in all workplaces.
The union is seeking to explicitly prohibit managers from issuing or communicating any kind of threats or intimidating notices or letters to workers in such a way that they are forced to work when they have been diagnosed with Covid-19. “We [also] demand government urgently fill all vacant posts in the public healthcare sector and ensure that we start to build the building blocks for the implementation of the National Health Insurance [NHI] scheme,” said the union.The union said it requires a response within a period of seven days, failing which it will declare an intention to embark on a work stoppage from September 10.