00:00Salary negotiations for WASA workers are at a standstill and the Public Service Association is stepping up pressure on the
00:07authority to act.
00:08The union blocked the main entrance to WASA's headquarters with its vehicles as the workers demanded movement on outstanding negotiations
00:16dating back several years.
00:19PSA President Felicia Thurma says the union's frustration intensified after a meeting with WASA's management yesterday.
00:26Yesterday we engaged in a negotiation meeting with the management.
00:31At that meeting the director of EHR would have revealed that since our proposals were submitted in January to now
00:38she has done nothing with it.
00:40It has been sitting on her desk.
00:41It has not been advanced to the HRC nor the board for it to be transmitted to the ministry so
00:51that we can get instructions in relation to settling negotiations on behalf of WASA workers.
00:56And to be clear those periods are 14 to 16, 17 to 19.
01:01Felicia Thurma says the PSA remained at the WASA compound since yesterday but claims that management has not returned to
01:07the negotiating table.
01:09We have been here from yesterday morning till now.
01:13We have not left.
01:14The PSA has not left.
01:15But the management has walked out on the negotiations.
01:19They have not returned to the negotiating table.
01:22We have not heard anything from the board of directors who are charged with the responsibility, my apology, to settle
01:29these negotiations and move those proposals forward.
01:32And with no word according to PSA from WASA's board, the union says workers have decided that enough is enough.
01:40Thurma says that there will be no return to normal operations until the board takes action.
01:46The workers are here.
01:47The workers have said that enough is enough.
01:49And they will not continue.
01:51It will not be work as usual until the board comes here and approve what they need to approve.
01:56And have our negotiations, in particular the cost item, move to the ministry.
02:02For the union, the issue now is getting the proposals through WASA's internal approval process and on to the Ministry
02:10of Finance.
02:11But with workers maintaining their protest at the authority's headquarters, it remains to be seen whether WASA's management will return
02:19to the negotiating table.
02:20TV6 News contacted PSA President Felicia Thomas for comment, but calls and text messages went unanswered.
02:29Charlotte Kisto, TV6 News.
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