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BL Premium reports that the SA Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), which has just gone through a retrenchment process, is planning to impose a wage freeze on its employees for the next three years to contain costs.
This mirrors what the government plans to do with public-sector employees to reduce the budget deficit. By end-March, 621 employees had left the loss-making public broadcaster, 275 by retrenchments in redundant positions and 346 with voluntary severance packages that cost R164m. The annual compensation of staff that had left was R457m. SABC executives told MPs on Wednesday that the broadcaster will have covered the cost of the voluntary severance packages in the fifth month of the current financial year, and would then realise savings of R292m on salaries. That, together with a wage freeze (excluding medical aid contribution increases), would translate into R600m in savings on the salary bill in the next three years. The salary bill is budgeted at R2.8bn for 2021/2022, reducing to R2.5bn in the following two years. The SABC expects to make further losses in 2021 and 2022 and to break even thereafter. The wage freeze would be lifted once the broadcaster brakes even. The broadcaster’s cash position is expected to deteriorate this year due to expected operating losses and planned capital expenditure.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Linda Ensor at BusinessLive (paywall access only)
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page