COSATU statement on the Department of Labour’s prohibition order against the National Health Department in Pretoria
30 October 2018
The Congress of South African Trade Unions has noted with the labour Department’s decision to issue a prohibition order against the National Health Department in Pretoria, where their building has been declared unsafe. This again exposes the cavalier attitude of the department of Health and government in general because workers have been raising this matter for a long time. The federation is fully behind the workers decision to refuse to enter the building for work.
What makes things even worse is that the same people who are supposed to be trusted with the healthcare of the nation cannot even guarantee the health of their officials in their head office. Workers need to refuse to work under inhumane and unsafe conditions and should only go to work once their employers meet all the occupational health and safety standards.
The Labour Department needs to act decisively with the employers who breach health and safety regulations starting with government.
The death of three firefighters at the Bank of Lisbon building in the Johannesburg should have been a wakeup call for the department of health and government in general.