Independent Media reports that the National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu) will decide at a special national executive committee (NEC) on Thursday on the government’s latest public service wage offer.
The union is labour federation Cosatu’s biggest affiliate and is scheduled to hold a special NEC meeting to receive feedback from its negotiators at the Public Service Co-ordinating Bargaining Council (PSCBC). At a meeting on Tuesday of the PSCBC, government tabled a revised offer, which Nehawu said “translates to an additional R22 from the initial R978” previously put on the table by the employer. In its latest proposal, the government is offering its employees between levels 1 to 12 salary increases between R1,200 and R1,700 and has indicated that the pay hike will be closer to R1,000 after tax deductions. According to Nehawu, the union remains resolute as a matter of principle that it will refuse to sign any offer for an increase outside of baseline salaries that accordingly does not contribute to pensionable service. Nehawu has also dismissed the government’s offer of 1.5% pay progression, which it insisted would only benefit some 39 000 state employees who were not going to qualify for the pay progression. The Public Servants Association (PSA), which declared a dispute in May and has not been part of the subsequent negotiation process, has not been presented with the latest revised offer. Its members who participated in a strike balloting process are reported to be overwhelmingly in support of strike action, with only the picketing rules outstanding before the PSA embarks on industrial action.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Loyiso Sidimba at Independent Media
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