[ Home ] [ Speeches & statements ]

15 January 2008

The Department of Health is making progress in the implementation of the Agreement on Occupational Specific Dispensation (OSD) for nurses as agreed upon with all five admitted trade unions in the Public Health and Social Development Sectoral Bargaining Council (PHSDSBC) namely, Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa (Denosa), National Education, Health And Allied Workers Union (Nehawu), Public Servants Association (PSA), Health and Other Services Personnel Trade Union of South Africa (HOSPERSA), and National Union of Public Service and Allied Workers (NUPSAW).

All parties to the OSD agreement are encouraged to use the established bargaining council processes available to deal with any issue relating to implementation of OSD. The OSD agreement was signed with these health sector unions in September 2007, after a lengthy engagement on how the resources made available by government for improvement of nurses working conditions in the current financial year should be utilised.

All 100 000 nurses employed by government are expected to benefit from the implementation of the OSD before 31 March 2008. In the OSD agreement, all parties agreed that there would be two phases to the salary adjustments. Firstly, it is the minimum adjustment in line with the OSD and secondly, it is the re-calculation and progression based on recognition of relevant experience.

As part of phase one, entry level salaries for staff nurses are being increased by 20% while entry-level salaries for Nursing Assistants and Professional Nurses in general nursing have both been increased by 24%. The OSD will affect the entry-level salaries of the various categories of nurses as follows:

Current job title: Nursing Assistant (Auxiliary Nurse)
Starting salary before 7,5%
Adjustment: R40 227
Starting salary after 7,5% adjustment (PRE-OSD): R43 245
OSD starting salary: R53 757
Percentage improvement: 24%

Current job title: Staff nurse
Starting salary before 7,5%
Adjustment: R54 222
Starting salary after 7,5% adjustment (PRE-OSD): R58 290
OSD starting salary: R70 140
Percentage improvement: 20%

Current job title: Professional nurse
Starting salary before 7,5%
Adjustment: R79 407
Starting salary after 7,5% adjustment (PRE-OSD): R85 362
OSD starting salary: R106 086
Percentage improvement: 24%

Phase two of OSD salary adjustment will be based on the number of years of relevant experience of nurses in the various categories. Both these OSD salary adjustments represent an increase which is over and above the 7.5% general salary adjustment reached following negotiations at the end of the public service strike in June last year.

More importantly, these increases will be effected retrospectively from 1 July 2008. The implementation of this agreement is an enormous task as there are about 100 000 nurses employed in the pubic service and for each of these employees, a separate translation transaction has to be effected for phase one and approved for phase two following the recalculation of relevant experience. Most provinces also had to adjust their nursing organisational structures to allow for the transition from the old dispensation to the OSD.

At least two provincial Health Departments – Limpopo and Northern Cape – have completed implementation and all other provinces are advancing well with implementation.

Enquiries:
Sibani Mngadi
Cell: 082 772 0161

Issued by: Department of Health
15 January 2008