Deep divisions amongst unhappy state doctors undermine salary adjustment negotiations
A disgruntled movement, the United Doctors’ Forum (UDF) has now emerged from the doctors’ union, the South African Medical Association (SAMA). The grouping says the reason for establishing a separate organisation, is that doctors ‘had lost trust in how SAMA was representing doctors’ on the Occupational Specific Dispensation (OSD) issue.
‘People felt that information was not given to them. When people write and say, ‘look, we are disgruntled, we want to find out what is happening with this animal called OSD’, nothing has been coming’, said Dr Rapitsi Malatji, the spokesperson for the UDF.
The UDF was formed by a group of doctors who were disgruntled by the delayed implementation of the OSD. In April, doctors under this formation went on strike.
The strike was suspended after a seeming truce was negotiated between the UDF and SAMA. Talks at the Bargaining Council resumed and the UDF agreed to have two of its leaders sit in at the talks, where SAMA is represented by the Democratic Nurses’ Organisation of South Africa (DENOSA).
But the UDF now claims to have walked out of the talks, alleging ‘unfair treatment’ at the negotiations.
‘We were forced to walk out because our agreement was that two of our members were supposed to be part of these negotiations as equal partners. But, they were put in there as junior partners, as step children – and that we could not accept’, said Dr Malatji.
However, SAMA said the UDF was actually kicked out of the talks.
‘What these doctors (UDF) did was to come out of the chamber and begin to articulate issues on behalf of the entire chamber, which were not true. On the day that they were officially kicked out by labour (unions), they had come with a third man, requesting that an additional seat must be made for them – and that’s not how things are done’, said Dr Bandile Hadebe, National Chairperson of the Junior Doctors Association of SA (Judasa), which is affiliated to SAMA.
Government shares SAMA’s sentiment.
‘The United Doctors’ Forum is an issue-based grouping, which, unfortunately, is misrepresenting what is taking place’, said Dr Percy Mahlathi, the Deputy Director-General of Human Resources at the Department of Health.
Both SAMA and the UDF have revealed that the government has made an offer of between 0.28% – 5%. If there is one thing that both unions agree on, it’s that the offer is less than satisfactory. Both have rejected the offer and have threatened to go on strike if the government does not come up with a better offer.
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