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BL Premium reports that after three months of talks, the government has reached a deal with a majority of public sector employees, with the “interim” one-year wage deal to be implemented as early as Tuesday.
With the Public Servants Association (PSA) announcing on Monday that it would sign the deal, the threshold of 50% was reached. The SA Democratic Teachers Union (Sadtu), the Health & Other Services Personnel Trade Union of SA (Hospersa) and the National Professional Teachers Organisation of SA (Naptosa) have already signed the agreement. The National Teachers Union (Natu) announced at the weekend that it had accepted the government’s wage offer. In a statement issued on Monday, the PSA said it would “accept” the wage offer after finalising its mandate-seeking process on 22 July. The PSA had earlier declared a dispute at the bargaining council and its members had voted for a strike “to apply pressure on the employer to pay attention to employees’ pleas for a salary adjustment”. The deal means employees will receive a R5,000 payment after tax with their August salary, which will include R4,000 back pay. SA’s largest public service union, the National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu), has vowed that it will not sign the agreement, but its members will benefit in any event because the agreement is binding. The government’s improved offer to unions for 2021/2022 includes a 1.5% pay progression increase (an increase linked to years of service) and a monthly cash gratuity on a sliding scale of between R1,220 and R1,695. The sliding scale will ensure that all employees below management level receive R1,000 after tax. A clause in the offer states that if no agreement is reached by 31 March 2022 on the 2022/2023 salary adjustment, the cash allowance will continue to be paid to all employees. The offer translates to an 11.7% wage increase for the lowest-paid public servants. Wage negotiations for the next financial year will need to begin in September.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Carol Paton and Luyolo Mkentane at BusinessLive (paywall access only)
- Read too, Third big union accepts public sector wage offer, at Fin24
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page