Katima Mulilo
About 28 cleaners at the Katima Mulilo state hospital are on a work stoppage since last week Thursday to show their discontent over poor working conditions.
Their action that has left the hospital in a mess is attributed to failure by hospital management to address their grievances of being overburdened with too much work.
The Katima Mulilo hospital has five patient wards of about 24 rooms each except ward two that has 30 rooms. Other sections affected include the outpatient and casualty departments.
Georgina Kamwi, a shop steward for the cleaners complained that the hospital has suffered a severe staff shortage since 2008. She says management has failed to replace retiring cleaners and those that left their jobs for other reasons, resulting in cleaners being drowned in extra work. The extra work comes without any extra pay, however.
“Our management don’t worry about recruiting more cleaners because we are not respected. Back in the days we used to work in pairs per shift but now we work one cleaner per shift, which is killing us,” bemoaned Kamwi.
According to Kamwi the new work system, which was introduced in June, is inconsiderate and results in cleaners falling ill and taking sick leave due to work pressure.
“We have five wards. Each ward has over 24 rooms. As a single cleaner you’re required to sweep, mop, empty bins for each of these rooms, sweep outside and clean toilets. And if your colleague is off, you’re required to do the work alone throughout the week,” said Kamwi.
According to Kamwi the matter was referred to the Namibian Public Workers Union (Napwu) that agreed with management in early July that the old duty roster system of cleaners working in pairs be redeployed.
“But nothing has been done and that is why we decided to come to work and picket until we get answers,” said Kamwi.
Apart from the working conditions, the cleaners have also not received overtime from May to June this year, while other workers such as nurses and laundry attendants who equally work shifts were paid overtime.
“We are not paid overtime on Sundays. We were told that the permanent secretary said no overtime should be paid to us. Why is this happening here in Katima if other regions are paid overtime?” one of the cleaners said.
The cleaners charged that other hospitals are manned by over five cleaners per ward. They defiantly condemned unpaid leave forms that were served on them to sign because of their work stoppage.
Napwu representative in Zambezi Region Prisca Makaba confirmed: “We had a meeting with the regional management on 1 July and they admitted that there is a shortage of staff. They agreed to restore the old duty roster but have failed to do so to this day.”
She said hospital management failed to meet with the union on Monday but the regional health director, Agness Mwilima, had informed them the issue was referred to the permanent secretary, Andrew Ndishishi.
“This has forced the union to forward the grievances of cleaners to head office. The regional office has totally failed. The cleaners followed the Labour Act as they have been meeting with management over this issue but management did nothing,” said Makaba.
Makaba said serving cleaners with unpaid leave forms was cheap intimidation by hospital management.
She was adamant that cleaners acted within the confines of the Labour Act as they have been coming to work.
“The workers are not on strike neither are they on a demonstration.
All they want is that their duty roster be corrected. How can you clean 24 rooms alone? Overtime was also supposed to be one of the issues to resolve during our meeting,” stressed Makaba.