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Mail & Guardian reports that Public Service and Administration Minister Ayanda Dlodlo says the government will restructure the civil service despite objections from Cosatu.
The labour federation warned after its central executive committee meeting last week that workers would not vote for the ANC in the 2019 national elections if government did not halt its plans to restructure. “We view the plans to retrench workers as an act of ultimate betrayal, especially after the government’s decision to increase VAT after promising not to do so,” Cosatu said. Dlodlo dismissed Cosatu’s threats and said government had no choice but to forge ahead with its restructuring, which she insisted was not intended to cut jobs. “If you [Cosatu] are going to look at the macro reconfiguration of the state as a threat to your membership numbers then you’re missing the point. The point is you don’t restructure to get rid of people, you restructure to make the system effective and efficient. Will it culminate in a loss of jobs? I don’t know,” she added. Mail &Guardian previously reported that discussions were under way in government for the allocation of “employer-initiated” severance packages for 30,000 public servants to ease pressure on the wage bill. In an interview last week, Dlodlo admitted that, during the public sector wage negotiations, government had tabled the employer-initiated process as an option but unions shot it down. “We did have that discussion with unions and it was rejected. We’ve moved on,” Dlodlo said.
Read this report by Matuma Letsoalo & Dineo Bendile in full at Mail & Guardian
See too, Trim your bloated offices, Dlodlo tells cabinet ministers, on page 4 of The Sunday Times of 19 August 2018
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page