EWN reports that the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) has withdrawn its participation at the Public Service Summit in Johannesburg.

The gathering, initiated by National Treasury and other government departments, is meant to set a roadmap for the public service wage bill, which the state is desperate to curtail. Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana and Department of Public Service and Administration Minister Ayanda Dlodlo are leading the talks at the summit, which last until Wednesday. However, Popcru, which represents over 150,000 public employees, said the summit was nothing but a perception management process by the employer and asserted that no tangible results would emanate from the meeting. In a statement, the union explained that the summit was meant to create what it described as a false impression that relations between the employer and workers were good despite what it said was the continued victimisation of workers. Last year, Popcru and Nehawu refused to sign the public service wage agreement in protest against the non-implementation of the last leg of the 2018 deal. The government has since won a Constitutional Court case which was initiated by the unions to challenge the non-implementation decision.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Theto Mahlakoana at EWN

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