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Fin24 reports that the Public Servants Association (PSA) has declared a deadlock in the public service wage talks with government, rejecting a 2% wage offer.
A Public Service Coordinating Bargaining Council annexure from the ongoing wage talks indicates that the union rejected the offer from the Department of Public Service and Administration. Unions went into the negotiations demanding a 10% increase across the board, which the government maintained from the beginning of talks it could not afford. If discussions deteriorate any further, SA faces the risk of a strike by unions representing 200,000 public servants, including teachers, nurses, and police officers. In the annexure, the government tabled a final offer of 2% with a revised sliding scale where salary levels 1 to 4 would receive 3%, levels 5 to 8 would receive 2.10% and levels 9 to 12 will get 1.50%. The employer stated that the 2% would be with effect from the date of signing the agreement and no longer with effect from 1 April 2022, as earlier indicated. The annexure recorded that the PSA was not prepared to consider anything less than 3% on the baseline increase while the cost of fuel, food, electricity, and public transport continued to rise. “The employer cannot only plead poverty when it comes to public servants and become charitable when it comes to other state entities or office bearers as they get money from the same pot," the PSA is recorded in the annexure as stating. Coordinator for Cosatu in the talks, Simon Hlungwani said the federation’s unions were consulting with members across the country for a mandate on the latest offer.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Khulekani Magubane at Fin24
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