So the municipal workers’ union (Samwu) plans to go on strike to put pressure on the South African Local Government Association (Salga) to accede to an 18% increase.
What have its members been smoking, you may ask. Which sober employer, especially our badly governed and struggling municipalities, could afford an 18% increase? A generous interpretation would say that 18% is a starting point and that they will eventually come down. But the point is that they will probably be prepared to settle for about 12%, which will still be very high.
Teachers organised under the banner of the South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu) are apparently also bracing themselves for a protracted battle with government if it does not improve its offer to the public service.
It is important to remember that teachers under Sadtu did not sign last year’s settlement essentially because they felt it did not adequately meet their demands.
Information gleaned from Sadtu regional conferences is that this year the union is still pushing for a strike and that some of its members are prepared to pull out of the public service bargaining council where some of its allied public service unions may be inclined to settle with the government, a position Sadtu does not endorse.
Two factors are aggravating and clouding what should be reasonable salary negotiations discussed in good faith. The first is ANC-Cosatu-South African Communist Party alliance politics, which are steaming up ahead of next year when the alliance partners are due to hold their conferences and elect new leadership.
Samwu has positioned itself inside the union federation Cosatu as a strong critic of the Jacob Zuma-led administration.
Earlier on in the year it nearly disrupted local government elections because of its unhappiness with the Municipal Systems Amendment Bill, which it felt sought to depoliticise local government and violated the freedom of association of its senior officials, who in terms of the Bill are not allowed to occupy leadership positions in political parties. It also felt that the law was undemocratic because it gave the minister of co-operative governance and traditional affairs the power to intervene in labour disputes, which would take away the bargaining power the union and the employer enjoyed at the bargaining council.
That conflict worsened after Zuma signed the Bill into law without consulting the union, apparently because he forgot to.
Samwu is also part of the group of affiliates closer to Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi, who are unhappy with a number of government policies and are questioning whether Cosatu should support President Jacob Zuma for a second term.
So, although the 18% may be a genuine demand based on the belief that its members are underpaid, it is clear that there are underlying political considerations complicating simple labour disputes.
The president of Sadtu, Thobile Ntola, is also a radical voice who does not sit comfortably with the cosy relationship that the likes of the National Health and Allied Workers’ Union seeks to nurture with government.
The other factor muddying the waters is Zuma’s poor timing in giving the Swazis a R2.4-billion loan. Samwu and Sadtu are already saying it shows that there is, indeed, money available somewhere and that government can offer its workers more. I am afraid that we are going to pay very dearly for giving this loan at this time.
The Mail & Guardian showed last week the loan was not just about bailing out a struggling neighbour so that its problems are not transported to our country. Ultimately, Zuma and the ANC have personal and business connections with the Swazi regime, meaning that their motives in assisting King Mswati are anything but altruistic. But to give the loan now has strengthened the hand of those who seek to extract financial concessions from government.
“The money is there, or the money can be found if there is political will,” they will argue. So we will witness a replay of the annual circus.
Public Service and Administration Minister Richard Baloyi will bargain in his unconvincing manner until public service unions go on strike.
Then Zuma will come in during the deadlock, wearing the gowns of a neutral arbiter and “break the deadlock”. Just as he did for King Mswati, he will force the national treasury to find the money somewhere, hand it out, kill the strike and go back to focusing on his drive to stay on as ANC president.