SARAH BULLEN, Cape Town | Thursday 1.30pm
PUBLIC Service and Administration Minister Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi on Thursday announced that the government will not make available any more money for pay increases in the public sector.
Addressing a media briefing in Cape Town, Fraser-Moleketi said that while government will not up its offer, it is still prepared to engage with labour in order to resolve the dispute.
Government’s tough stance comes after a massive nationwide strike on Tuesday in which 12 public service unions rallied some 570000 employees to strike in demand of a 7,3% average pay increase (with 8,3% for teachers) — one percentage point more than the government has set aside.
Accepting the strikers’ memorandum on Tuesday, Fraser-Moleketi hinted that government may stand firm on its offer despite the call to mass action, saying that government will meet labour “back in the [bargaining] chamber within days”.
Speaking on Cape Talk radio on Tuesday night after the strike had ended, Fraser-Moleketi said that the government has already implemented its wage decision and that public sector workers will see the increases reflected on their statements at the end of the month.
Speaking on Thursday, Fraser-Moleketi denied that government’s decision to unilaterally implement the increase is an attempt to undermine labour or any union action.
This comes as observers attach a rising significance to government’s firm stance on the wage dispute and its relationship with the Congress of South African Trade Unions with which it forms a tripartite alliance.