/ 30 November 2001

Public servants’ jobs at risk

Unions say the government is pushing ahead with job cuts despite the fact that a framework agreement is not yet in place

Glenda Daniels

The government has told 7 274 public servants that their jobs are redundant and they face retrenchment, according to a survey of members carried out by public service trade unions.

This is the first hint of how many public service jobs could fall under the axe. The government has steadfastly refused to say how many posts are vulnerable.

The Department of Public Service spokes-person Thembela Kulu said it was “totally irresponsible” to produce figures. “We don’t know the source of these numbers,” she said.

National Education Health and Allied Workers Union negotiator Khumbu Magudulela insisted that in most cases retrenchment procedures were already under way. Managers were targeting “redundant personnel” for retrenchment in national departments and provinces.

This is at the heart of the dispute in the public service bargaining chamber declared last week by 12 public service unions representing 500 000 workers. They say the government is pushing ahead with job cuts despite the fact that a restructuring framework agreement is not yet in place.

A joint conciliation/arbitration process is under way to try and resolve the issue of an acceptable framework before December 12, a deadline agreed by both parties.

Public service department Deputy Director General Alvin Rapea denied any retrenchments were taking place.

The row between the government and public service unions is the latest in a six-year battle over public service retrenchments. At the public service summit in Pietersburg early this year, the two sides differed in their interpretation of what they had agreed, with the government saying unions had accepted the possibility of retrenchments and redeployments, and unionists denying it.

The union survey indicates that the most vulnerable provinces are Gauteng and Mpumalanga, where 2 200 and 1 800 jobs respectively are at risk. A further 1 395 jobs have been declared redundant in the Northern Province Department of Public Works.

Other provinces affected by threatened redundancies are the Eastern Cape (788 jobs in local government and 288 jobs in agriculture), KwaZulu-Natal (400 jobs in housing and local government), Free State (200 jobs through outsourcing in agriculture) and the Western Cape (203 jobs in the roads department).

Magudulela said the public service department had told the unions it was “re-organising”, rather than retrenching. “While they are negotiating with us, they are determining the final product. They are becoming dishonest and this is political blackmail.”

He said where the government could justify retrenchments, the unions would accept them. “But they want a blank cheque from us. We can’t carry on having this uncertainty hanging over us. Morale is low, and the sooner we all conclude a framework the better.”

Rapea said the reality was that the unions were refusing to bargain on a restructuring framework. “Where there is excess personnel, we can’t shy away from the fact that there will be retrenchments.”

He said the December 12 deadline, based on an agreement reached at the public service job summit in Pietersburg at the beginning of the year, had to be met. “The framework will be about how we go about redeploying, retraining and dealing with disputes over excess personnel. We also have to discuss agreements with parastatals and iron this out. If there are excess personnel we have to discuss exit packages.”

Rapea said that the unions were refusing to talk about the details of a preliminary document on public service transformation, drawn up by unions and the government and tabled this month in the bargaining chamber. Unionists were saying transformation should be halted, and that managers should stop planning.

“We find this disappointing, as we thought the document was an agreed basis for negotiation. The worrying thing is we were not given an opportunity to respond before they declared a dispute, which was premature. This is part of their tactic not to engage.”

Rapea said the government had given an assurance from the outset that retrenchments would be a last resort.