Media Statement

POPCRU statement on its national march

The Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (POPCRU) thanks thousands of its membership, sister unions and other like-minded friends who practically participated in its national march to the Union Buildings yesterday.

Thousands of our members from the furthest areas of our country made it a point to travel across the lengths and breadths of our country, under challenging circumstances to come and register their long-held grievances about their conditions of work and the broader challenges they are confronted with within the criminal justice cluster.
 
This march was characterised by discipline and the determination to see government’s posture towards their grievances being addressed as a matter of urgency in curbing the attacks on police stations, addressing the uneven allocation of resources within stations, addressing the electricity crisis which has had a negative impact on the already under-capacitated staff complement within the sector, the increase in danger allowance, the development and implementation of a promotion policy, the employment of hospital guards, pay progression and the implementation of a single police service among others.
 
For POPCRU, this march was the beginning of many other activities to come, and as we assess the impact of the march, what has become crystal clear is that workers have got a full appreciation of the socio-economic conditions facing them and their families, while appreciating and having faith in that their union will stand guard against any attempts to worsen their exploitation in all its forms. This includes defending collective bargaining, cutting of budgets and attempts to casualise the public service in the long run.
 
We are committed not only to defending the public sector, but also to ensuring that the public sector plays an appropriate transformative role for a radical social and economic change in favour of the workers and the poor, and as we approach COSATU’s 14th National Congress, we will be advocating for an intensified, radicalised approach in defending collective bargaining and ensuring government recommits itself in honouring their end of the bargain at all material times.
 
Our union remains the only hope our members have at their disposal, and we shall continue fighting for their rights at any given time.
 
Workers’ rights should be a central focus of development.
 
Issued on 21/09/2022
 
For more information contact Richard Mamabolo on 066 135 4349