BL Premium reports that according to unions, the government will know at the latest in February what public sector workers’ demands are for the next round of wage negotiations.  

The tabling of the wage demands will come in the same month in which finance minister Tito Mboweni presents this year’s budget, which is expected to rely heavily on the wage freeze announced in October’s medium-term budget policy statement.  In the Labour Appeal Court in December, the government won the battle over the state’s refusal to implement the final year of the three-year 2018 wage agreement on the grounds that it did not have the money and that it was unlawful.  But, the unions have all indicated they will take the judgment on appeal to the Constitutional Court (ConCourt) because of its implications for collective bargaining.   Reuben Maleka of the Public Servants Association, and Mugwena Maluleke, chief negotiator for the majority of Cosatu public sector unions, said last week they would file applications for leave to appeal the case to the ConCourt.  The applications are set to be filed later in January.  Meanwhile, the next round of wage negotiations must take place because no agreement has been signed for the financial year that will start on 1 April.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Claudi Mailovich at BusinessLive (paywall access only)

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