City Press reports that Cosatu-affiliated public sector unions have rejected government’s wage offer and have instead put forward a demand for a R1,500 monthly gratuity and a 2% salary adjustment.
But, the updated demands would increase government’s “fiscally neutral” offer of R14.4 billion to R22.4 billion, thereby breaching its fiscal ceiling. A member of the joint mandating committee said on Friday: “We submitted this to the employer (the state) and the employer said they were still going to seek mandate … and after mandate-seeking, they would come back to us with the revised offer on the cash gratuity. We said that we want the R978 gratuity to be increased as part of the official mandate. The majority of the unions rejected the R978 gratuity. Our demand is that the employer [government] can push this thing [cash gratuity] to R1 500.” Finance Minister Tito Mboweni last week told an investment conference that National Treasury would not back down on its insistence that any wage agreement for state workers must not breach the government fiscal ceiling. Meanwhile, the Public Servants Association (PSA) on Friday called on its members to vote on strike action. The PSA represents over 235,000 public sector employees, while Cosatu-affiliated unions account for 57% of the 1.3 million public sector workers, namely about 741,000 members. The PSA’s Reuben Maleka said: “We are left with no choice but to embark on a route of industrial action once we receive the full support of our members.” But, the joint mandating committee member noted that the PSA had issued the threat to embark on industrial action more than twice already this year and commented: “We cannot be pushed by people who cannot pull off a strike when they say they’ll pull off a strike. We know that only Cosatu unions can pull off a big strike.” Regarding the updated wage demand sent to government, he said the Cosatu unions would convene on Tuesday to find out about the government’s mandate and take it from there.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Thuletho Zwane at City Press (paywall access only)
- Read too, Turmoil looms in public sector wage dispute, says Terry Bell, at City Press (paywall access only)
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