THE SALARY ISSUE.republish... SOUTH AFRICAN CHILD AND YOUTH CARE WORKERS SEEKING A VOICE

THE MAIIN ROLE PLAYERS

This was published as a blog of 21st March 2018. It is republished, partly on request and partly as the moment is again right to talk on this issue for Child and Youth Care in South Africa then again to set out the differences in the part played be the main role players in the South African Child and Youth Care field.

I have in mind a follow-up next week with a plot for our hopes, aspirations and dare I say demands as professional child and youth care workers in South Africa.  

Again this week the salary issue was foremost on the mind of child and youth care workers in the social media. Until salaries are paid that match the status and profession practice of child and youth care workers in this country...we all know that this issue wont go away. The question that is contained or implied in the social media comment is ,"Other than mass action or leaving the profession, how and through whom is our voice to be heard"?

MY VIEW ON THE SALARY ISSUE
There can be absolutely NO EXCUSE for the salaries of social service professionals and in particular, child and youth care workers to be as low as they are, nor to experience delays in payment. State seems to be aware of the issue and is sympathetic with it, but imply an inability to address it as a result of the unavailability of state funds to cover the cost. Child and youth care posts have been frozen for a very long time now. Thing is also, that the salaries paid to government employees has a trickle down effect to the non-governmental organisations [NGO's] who tend to use them as a benchmark in the fear of losing staff to government employ.
I have a sense that child and youth care workers in South Africa feel trapped. They say that they love what they do, but struggle with a reality that in providing services to children, their own children are disadvantaged

THE VOICE OF THE CHILD AND YOUTH CARE WORKER
Because the child and youth care workers feel unheard and not   spoken for, the social media has become a means of having a voice. The problem is; social media strengthens opinion among the professionals "in the same whatsapp group" as it were.   Oft-times its heard only among themselves and is taken to be a less than legitimate basis for action outside of that closed group. 
There are three established organisational structures to which the child and youth care professional are, or should, be connected as members. Each of which in the social media, is regarded, through expectation, to be a voice on the salary issue. The Professional Association, which in South Africa is but one, the National Association of Child and Youth Care Workers (NACCW), the South African Council for Social Services Professions (SACSSP) and the Trade Unions, of which there are a number.
Frustration and expectation frequently blurs the perception of the role and mandate of each of these.

THE ROLE AND MANDATE OF THE MAIN ORGANISATIONS 
The Professional Association 
The National Association of Child and Youth Care Workers (NACCW), as its name implies, has a nation wide  membership. This in itself, gives it credibility. It, as does any other professional association, empower encourage and support the professional in their professionality in order that the client's best interests are served. Through developing the child and worker, the children reap the benefit. It is not suprising then that its constitutional objectives, and so, its mandate is to:
    disseminate information regarding the field of child and youth care
    promote the optimum care and development of children and youth at risk
    provide opportunities for training
    protect and uphold the rights of children and young persons 
    support efforts to eradicate hardships and suffering of children
    liase and co-operate with stakeholders nationally and internationally.
All this is achieved through the growth and development of the profession and the professional, the acquisition and spread of knowledge, opinion and international contact. It is the South African arm if the international body of Child and Youth Care Workers (FICE).
The key words in its mandate is to inform. educate, advise. develop.

The South African Council for Social Service Professions (SACSSP)
This is the body with which social service are required by law to register in order to practice. It "regulates" the profession.
A profession that is regulated is a guarantee to the client that the service received will be and is, of a high ethical standard and that the professional holds accredited and appropriate qualifications. In this the professional is given recognition and the client a safegaurd against malpractice. The regulating body has a mandate to apply sanctions on a professional that does not comply with the regulations that govern it.

The key words are: regulate, sanction. advise, uphold ethics and qualifications
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The Trade Union
Membership to a Trade Union is voluntary and reliant on the selected Union being contractually recognised by the employer as a voice for the worker on matters of fair labour practice and conditions of service. The Union deals with the employer directly on matters of salary, bargaining and negotiation. If government is the employer then negotiations often in the form of demand will be undertaken at government level. How ultimately successful this will be may rely on the availability of funds

Child and youth care workers in South Africa are encouraged to be members of all three of these organisational structures as together they form a multi-sided approach to the issues of the field and the worker in practice and in the workplace

OTHER FORUMS AND APPROACHES

Government employees have and again are encouraging state employed child and youth care workers to, on a regional and district basis, form forums as a means to have their voice heard by the employer. The salary issue is clearly a driving issue behind the growth of these forums. It is in any case good labour practice that staff meet in forums in the workplace. Child and youth worker forums can provide a voice directly to the employer . In the case of the Professional Association, these child and youth care worker forums are organised regionally and provincially with a mechanism in place for their issues to reach the National Executive ear for consideration and approach.

In yesterdays social media there was a kind of notice given that a child and youth care worker, or a group, were today to meet with a member of parliament to draft a petition on the salary issue to be signed in support by child and youth care workers throughout the country and to be handed to parliament. It will be done electronically with a link to gain access. This is a collective but one voice approach directed to the  an appropriate address
Child and youth care workers in South Africa have NEVER been silent nor silenced on its issues, which in the final analysis have as much to do with the well-being of the children as they do in the interests of the profession. An undisruptive approach such as this is a measure of professionality.  I look forward to seeing this petition.

MORE  APPROACHES
Social media have not ruled out... go-slow, work to rule, mass action, protest marches and strike action. I will engage with these approaches in a future blog. 



    
    
     
   





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