The government, which intends to pay no cost-of-living increase for public servants for the next three years, did not table a wage offer in talks last week, to the annoyance of unions which now say labour action is inevitable.
Unions were also disappointed last week with the Constitutional Court's decision on an August hearing of their application to appeal against a Labour Court of Appeal (LAC) ruling in December that implementing the last leg of a multiterm wage agreement was unlawful.
The wage agreement, which would have cost R38bn to implement in 2020, was signed at the Public Sector Coordinating Bargaining Council (PSCBC) in 2018. The National Education Health and Allied Workers Union (Nehawu) general secretary Zola Saphetha said they were concerned that the Constitutional Court August 24 hearing of their appeal was “too far”.
They wanted the matter resolved quickly as workers were being subjected to “a life of poverty” by the government. “Furthermore, the decision of the LAC has also affected other sectors who are now dragging their feet in implementing binding collective bargaining agreements,” said Saphetha.
Disgruntled public-sector unions have now threatened a total shutdown of the public service should the government not respond favourably to their new demands for higher wages tabled at the PSCBC on March 1.
Services such as at police stations, correctional services, public hospitals, public schools and border posts could grind to a halt if the more than 1-million public servants down tools. Strike action could also have an adverse effect on the rollout and administration of the Covid-19 vaccine.
The Treasury has been trying to rein in the wage bill, and according to the 2021 Budget Review proposed reductions to the wage bill amount to R303.4bn from 2020/2021 to 2023/2024.
The proposed reductions consist of the R160.2bn announced in the 2020 budget and an additional R144.2bn over the medium term. The wage bill will account for R1.97-trillion, or 32%, of consolidated government expenditure over the medium term.
Mugwena Maluleke, chief negotiator for union federation Cosatu’s public-sector unions, said they were demanding a wage increase of the consumer price index (CPI) plus 4% across the board for 2021/2022.
The CPI eased to an annual 2.9% in February, down from 3.2% in January and the lowest rate of inflation since June 2020 when inflation came in at 2.2%, according to Stats SA.
Mugwena said their members had lost their buying power as a result of the nonimplementation of salary increases in 2020.
“Furthermore, having considered the economic outlook of government, our demands of a higher percentage above CPI is informed by the fact that the three main items (food, electricity and public transport) which drive our members’ expenditure patterns are way above the projected CPI of 3.1%,” he said.
“Considering all factors, the present inflation has set our workers in the negative economic and financial path.”
The unions’ other demands include a R2,500 housing allowance, a special risk allowance of 12% of the basic salary during national disasters such as Covid-19, and the filling of all vacant posts in the public service.
“We have indeed presented the mandate that was given to us by the workers and hope that the employer will revert expeditiously to these reasonable demands,” said Mugwena.
He said the parties met at the PSCBC on March 29 and 30 to negotiate, and the employer requested more time to “enable a proper costing before tabling a response”.
Mugwena said that as a gesture of showing “bona fide intentions in this round of negotiations, we have afforded the employer the time to thoroughly look at our submissions”.
He warned, however, that should the employer frustrate the negotiations by insisting on a wage freeze they will ballot union members for a strike.
“A strike action will affect the entire public service: ports, airports, borders, nursing, teaching, police, and correctional services. It’s something the government has got to look at seriously,” Mugwena told Business Day.
Reuben Maleka, assistant GM of the Public Servants Association of SA (PSA), said: “If the employer does not respond favourably to our demands, I foresee a total shutdown of the public service. In fact, that’s where it’s going to go because of the attitude that the employer has adopted.”
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