By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies Mondli Gungubele has raised concern over the negative impact that strike action at the State IT Agency (SITA) could have on service delivery.
Earlier this week, members of the Public Servants Association (PSA) announced their strike action when wage negotiations had hit a dead end.
The union’s “total shutdown” of Sita, which began on Monday, intensified after it rejected a “unilateral” 5% wage hike offer. The offer is 0.5 percentage points higher than one previously made during negotiations. The PSA’s reason for rejecting the offer, it said, is “based on the initial instruction from members who indicated that they would not be accepting anything less than 7.5%”.
“The PSA has warned the employer (Sita) that strike action will be intensified across the country indefinitely,” it said in a statement. The PSA has encouraged its members to “converge at their workplace entrances and not report for duty”, even telling those who are working from home to do the same.
Gungubele has urged all parties involved in ending the strike action to speed up negotiations.
“The Department of Communications and Digital Technologies has been alerted by SITA of the deadlock with negotiations and the subsequent protest action. The department acknowledges the rights of employees to embark on such action.
“Although the department has noted calls for the Minister to intervene, it is important to note that this is a labour matter between the PSA representing the employees and SITA as employer, where the department cannot interfere. Gungubele is, however, calling upon both parties to find a speedy and amicable resolution to ensure that service delivery is not negatively affected,” the Minister said.
The department has been assured by SITA that plans are in place to ensure that key operations of the agency will be protected from any negative impact by this protest action.