The government has offered public servants the standard 1.5% "pay progression" increase, which is automatically due to all public servants, and a cash gratuity of nearly R1,000 in its latest offer to unions in wage talks.
However, the government has refused to budge on the bigger question of a cost-of-living wage increase, which it still says is frozen at zero.
The 1.5% pay progression increase is part of the conditions of service of public servants, who are rewarded with a pay rise for every year of service.
The details are contained in a presentation marked "secret" that the employer made to unions during a facilitation meeting in the Public Service Co-ordinating Bargaining Council on Sunday. Business Day has seen the presentation.
"Employees who will not receive a pensionable salary increase during 2021 will have their salaries adjusted by at least 1.5%," it said. The presentation also proposed a monthly non-pensionable cash gratuity, or a type of allowance, of R978 to be paid to all employees.
The employer said no allowances or collective agreements will be used to fund the gratuity. However, it is unclear how it will be funded. A previous proposal for a gratuity was not an additional cost to the fiscus over and above the wage bill.
It is imperative for its credibility among investors and ratings agencies and for the fiscal framework that the government stick to its fiscal targets announced in February. To achieve this, the government must cut more than R300bn from the wage bill over the medium term. Ratings agencies have expressed doubt over whether it will have the political will to do so.
There was confusion among unions after Sunday’s talks over whether or not the 1.5% increase constitutes a cost-of-living increase.
Reuben Maleka, assistant GM of the Public Servants Association (PSA), which represents about 235,000 public servants, said: "From clarity obtained it appears that the 1.5% that is being offered is already in place in the form of a pay progression that employees qualify [for] because of satisfactory per-formance. In essence, employees are only offered a non-pensionable gratuity of R978 before tax."
Maleka said the offer is a "far cry from the demands tabled by the PSA, [because] employees are struggling to make ends meet with the rising costs of basic needs and the effects of the pandemic".
He said: "Frontline workers are still expected to continue to perform their duties under hazardous conditions despite not having received a salary increase for last year.
"The PSA is calling on the employer to seriously consider the offer on the table and come up with serious proposals to break the deadlock."
Hard at work
When contacted for comment on Monday, public service & administration minister Senzo Mchunu referred questions to his spokesperson, Kamogelo Mogotsi, who said the government negotiations team is still hard at work in the bargaining chamber. "We are dealing with 16 demands and we are still very much at work," Mogotsi told Business Day.
The department is in touch with the negotiations team "but they are still not done with their duties", she said.
A comprehensive report will be obtained "once the team has an opportunity". She refused to comment on the presentation made to the unions on Sunday.
Wage negotiations at the Public Service Co-ordinating Bargaining Council, where the employer and unions agree on salary increases and other conditions of employment, reached a deadlock on April 23.
The unions are demanding a wage increase of the consumer price index plus 4% across the board for 2021/2022.
Correction: May 17 2021
An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that the government had offered a 1.5% cost-of-living increase. This was incorrect. The article has also been updated with new information.
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