Unfair labour practice on staff in primary health care facilities, North West province, South Africa: A qualitative study

Abstract

BackgroundUnfair labour practice is a serious challenge in primary health care (PHC) facilities (Akuffo & Kivipold 2018:12; Sroka & Weinhardt 2018:1). Unfair labour practice refers to being treated unfairly, denied other work benefits and better opportunities, while they are afforded to others by the supervisor (Down 2019:1; Traub Law Attorneys 2020:2). Unfair labour practice can also refer to being disliked by one's supervisor, negatively criticised and denied leave, while approved for others despite providing a reason (Down 2019:1; Traub Law Attorneys 2020:2). Thus, there is a need to explore the experiences of operational managers with regard to unfair labour practice by health area managers in healthcare facilities. The findings of the study can have an influence on issues related to unfair labour practice on staff during supervision and management of PHC facilities. Operational managers in this study refer to professional nurses, responsible for general supervision of staff and management of the PHC facility and a supervisee to a local health area manager.Studies conducted in the United States of America, Haiti and Canada revealed biased promotions for some frontline nursing managers, despite their hard work, loyalty and high level of education (Akuffo & Kivipold 2018:9; Gray 2019:10). The studies revealed that frontline nursing managers, who deserved to be moved to the top management positions, were denied the opportunity by their supervisors. Instead of being granted top positions, they (frontline managers) were criticised by their immediate supervisors and considered as quiet, meek, antisocial and managers who were Background: Unfair labour practices on staff is a worldwide concern which creates conflicts and disharmony among health workers in the workplace. It is found that, nursing staff members are unfairly treated without valid reasons in primary health care (PHC) facilities and predominantly in the developing countries and South Africa is not an exception. Objectives:The purpose of the study was to explore and describe the experiences of operational managers regarding unfair labour practices on staff by their local health area managers, and describe the perceptions of operational managers towards such treatment.Method: A qualitative, descriptive, exploratory and contextual research approach was considered appropriate for the study. The population of the study comprised operational managers working in PHC facilities in the North West province, South Africa. Purposive sampling was used to select participants for the study and focus group interviews used to interview 23 operational managers. Ethical measures were applied throughout the study. Results:The six phases of thematic analysis were used to analyse the data collected for the study. Two themes that emerged are experiences of factors related to unfair labour practices in the PHC facilities and the perceptions regarding how to improve their working conditions. The categories that were found in the first themes were favouritism and discrimination. ...