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Two directors-general tell ConCourt public service unions' appeal over wage increase has no chance of success

Details

southafricalogoFin24 reports that National Treasury director-general Dondo Mogajane and director-general of the Department of Public Service and Administration Yoliswa Makhasi filed affidavits before the Constitutional Court (ConCourt) on Thursday against a bid by unions to compel government to honour a 2018 public service wage agreement.

This came a week after unions at the Public Service Coordinating Bargaining Council demanded a general salary increase of CPI plus 4% across the board in 2021, heightening the adversarial nature of discussions between government and workers in the public service. After having lost its bid to have the Labour Appeal Court (LAC) force government to pay wage increases for 2020, the Public Servants Association (PSA) in January said it would take the matter to the ConCourt. Last year, government reneged on the final year of a 2018 three-year wage agreement, which led to the legal challenge by the PSA and other unions. Government intends to slash the compensation budget by R160 billion over the next three years, as part of a fiscal consolidation plan to avoid a sovereign debt crisis. Implementing the wage increases for 2020 would have required it to pay up some R37 billion. The LAC found in favour of the government that the wage agreement was not valid. On Thursday, Mogajane said there was no basis for interfering with the LAC’s ruling on the 2018 public wage agreement. In her affidavit, Makhasi said her department agreed with Mogajane's assessment that the application had no prospect of success and that the application for leave was unmeritorious.

  • Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Khulekani Magubane at Fin24


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