The National Education, Health and Allied Workers' Union (Nehawu) says it believes the African National Congress (ANC) has mistreated its workers, leaving the union with no choice but to approach the Labour Court to force the party to pay outstanding salaries.

The union filed papers on 31 January, asking the court to order the ANC to pay the outstanding salaries of its workers.

On Wednesday, Nehawu secretary-general Zola Saphetha said the union had no choice but to intervene on behalf of its members.

The ANC owes its workers three months' salaries. The party has been struggling for months to meet its salary obligations because of a shortage of funding.

ANC staffers are also owed unemployment fund contributions and provident fund contributions which have not been paid in years.
Workers have decided to stay away from work.

'Sad and traumatising period'
Last month, News24 reported that staffers had met with ANC treasurer-general Paul Mashatile, who had committed to resolving the salary issue by the end of January. He also committed to the party resolving the pension fund and UIF issues by April.

By 1 February, no payments had been made to employees.

Nehawu is a member of Cosatu, which is an alliance partner of the ANC. Nehawu said ANC workers were struggling to survive.

"These workers are going through a sad and traumatising period as a direct result of failures of the ANC to honour and fulfil its contractual obligations entered into."

"The late [payment of] salaries has resulted in our members and workers losing all that they have worked for over years, as they have faced the stark reality of banks/financial institutions repossessing their homes, cars, etc. as a result of defaulting payments brought about by the failure [of paying] salaries on time by the ANC," Saphetha said.

At the ANC's January 8 address, party president Cyril Ramaphosa said ANC officials would quickly resolve the payment issue by looking at funding options.

Referring to Ramaphosa's statement, Nehawu said the ANC had ignored workers who had sacrificed their lives to serve the party. The staffers also faced the likelihood of retrenchment, according to the union.

"This inhuman act by the ANC undermines the dignity of its workers who kept the same ANC going, through and through, by sacrificing their lives in favour of the ANC.

"The matter is at the Labour Court now, and as the union and staff, we have tried everything possible to find an amicable solution, but to no avail and at worst, these workers were not treated with the dignity they deserved," the union said.

The matter has not been filed as an urgent matter.

Nehawu says it is awaiting a court date for the matter to be heard.