Sechaba ka’Nkosi
The South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu) has warned there could be more disruptions in education if the ministry does not review some of its policies.
This week, barely hours after the union claimed its most important victory since its inception eight years ago, Sadtu officials said there could be further strikes to compel the government to include parents and teachers in its transformation process.
An issue most likely to renew tensions is funding norms. This was not raised by the union during its negotiations with the Ministry of Education this week, but the union believes the government expects poor parents to pay more to educate their children.
Sadtu says the issue was not raised because it was not part of the four demands which saw the union deadlocked with the ministry.
Says union president Willy Madisha: “When the government took power, it promised free education up to a certain level. Now the department is talking of introducing funding norms that will force parents to contribute a percentage to education.
“Our fear is that only parents who can afford to will be able to pay, and the millions who are unemployed may be excluded. This is as a result of continuing cuts by the Ministry of Finance in the past few years.
“I’m very definite that we have not heard the last of strikes by our members to defend the transformation process.”
Sadtu’s threats come after the union forced major concessions from the ministry on the restructuring of education, salvaging the jobs of some 34 000 teachers tipped to join the unemployment ranks as part of the ministry’s rationalisation drive.
The lengthy negotiations saw Sadtu making a successful challenge to some of the constitutional arrangements political parties agreed on during the negotiations that led to democracy.
Sadtu believes these agreements stifled the transformation process because they give provincial education MECs more powers than the national ministry.
The union began as one of the most disorganised in the Congress of South African Trade Unions, but this week took a huge leap in stature, becoming one of the most important players in the public sector.
Sadtu expects its membership to increase drastically from its current 170 000 in the coming months. It plans to assume a crucial role in determining future relations between the government and the combined might of 500 000 public workers who will be brought together by a merger of unions.
In terms of this week’s agreement, teachers who were temporarily employed before July 1 1996 will be given permanent employment with immediate effect. Other temporary teachers will be redeployed, but no new teachers will be hired until the redeployment process is completed.
Observers see the fact that Sadtu has managed to force the government into consulting more on issues as a first step in merging teacher unions. Labour commentator Andrew Levy says it is now up to the authorities to decide whether to use the agreement to rebuild relations with public sector unions.
“Unlike workers in other industries, teachers, because of what they are and what they do, can easily merge together. With the wage negotiations just around the corner, the government could find itself in a more difficult position than previously thought.”
The national Department of Education remains cautious about what this week’s deal achieved, beyond repairing its relationship with Sadtu. “We have to acknowledge this is only a framework agreement,” says Duncan Hindle, chief director (human resources) and one of the department’s main negotiators. “No one should believe the road ahead is smooth. There are still some difficult decisions to be made.”
Among the most difficult are those that relate to the crux of the deal – policy on teaching numbers set at national level.
Minister of Education Sibusiso Bengu is proposing to set a national target for class sizes and also a ceiling. If a province fails to hit the target, it will have to at least stay within the ceiling, or will be hauled before Parliament to explain itself.
A province will be free to rationalise within these parameters, using a national retrenchment/redeployment mechanism soon to be agreed by the unions and the national department. “We’re not prescribing to the provinces how they spend their money,” Hindle says. “They are ultimately the employer, and they must decide on the size of their operations.”
The ministry’s class-size numbers will vary according to “what’s affordable” – so if budgets are pressed class sizes will rise and jobs will be under threat. The department will seek union agreement on national numbers, but says it does not need this. Hindle stresses the union’s role will be purely consultative.
The union will, however, have more say in the provinces. Union representatives will be consulted when provincial officials are figuring out how to hit the class-size target or (more likely) stay under the ceiling, while retaining enough money to spend on other elements such as textbooks. To date, the provinces have spent most of their money on salaries.
Hindle concedes the deal does not ensure any more money will be available for other items, nor that expenditure on personnel will drop. But, he adds: “All the provinces are aware of the need to downsize personnel costs.”