For two days no marking took place at the Humansdorp marking centre as disgruntled markers put down their red pens over disputed transport payments.
Markers claimed the department of education had reneged on what they said was an agreement to pay a blanket rate for transport compensation and was now paying less to those who used public transport.
Because of their unhappiness, which included an alleged lack of sufficient personal protective equipment (PPE), history paper 1 papers were not marked on Monday and Tuesday.
The education department has denied it had promised to pay a blanket rate and that there was a shortage of PPE.
But South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu) committee member Sithembiso Cekiso said with the new transport payment arrangement, markers who used public transport or are given a lift to the centre, were getting 25% less than those who used their own cars.
“This is new and in previous years, everyone was paid the same.
“Not all the markers have cars and even those who do have cars sometimes have to share that one car with the rest of their family, hence they get dropped off with their own cars and get picked up again after the shift.
“We want the department to go back to previous guidelines for payment,” Cekiso said.
He said they were also protesting against what he said was inadequate provision of PPE.
“We did not get enough, we each [got] small bottles of sanitiser and one mask each, we have been here for a week already and we run the risk of infecting each other if we are not properly protected.”
Provincial education spokesperson Malibongwe Mtima said both his department and the health department had provided masks and sanitisers in excess.
“All these grievances are in the employment contract. If you are given a lift or you use public transport you get 25% of what a person with a car gets and even then each person must provide proof or an affidavit that they do indeed use their own car and that they are using it throughout the course of the marking procedure,” Mtima said.
He said a team of officials had been delegated to meet the disgruntled markers and resolve the dispute so marking would resume.
“We also made a suggestion that those who are unhappy with the agreement can rather not lodge claims for transport now and instead a lodge a dispute, payment would then be processed after the dispute is resolved.”
At the time of writing the department and union were still deadlocked in a meeting.
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