The Police Prisons and Civil Rights Union (Popcru) on Monday rejected the police plan to upgrade salaries and packages, saying there was no consultation and that ordinary members were excluded.
Popcru spokesperson Pat Ntsobi said the plan lacks transparency because the union was not consulted and therefore did not know what its content entailed.
”The management targeted individuals in the specialised functions to sign contracts to earn bonuses, while it excluded ordinary members,” Ntsobi.
South African Police Service spokesperson Selby Bokaba said the plan is a bid to counter the exodus of trained and highly experienced personnel in order to retain scarce skills in the police service.
The plan is focused at skills retention, recruitment of new members, and training and development to address disparities in the service.
Bokaba said the management had identified specialised areas and offered R30 000 one-off payments to individuals willing to stay in the service to impart skills to new members, while training and developing those who wanted to join these specialised areas.
He dismissed Popcru’s claim that it was not consulted, saying the matter went to the Labour Court when the South African Police Union challenged its implementation.
”The management won the case and was given a go-ahead to implement the plan. The only thing the union did not know was how much money was to be given to individuals in the specialised areas.”
Bokaba said if the union is not satisfied with the plan it knows the proper processes and channels to voice its concerns.
The management is not going to engage the union through the media.
Ntsobi said the management had targeted individuals to sign for the plan without giving them time to be conversant with its contents.
”You can’t ignore unions and go straight to members and ask them to sign anything without them properly applying their minds. Obviously members are desperate for money and will definitely sign for more money.”
Ntsobi said the union has been put in an awkward position because it is being approached by members to give clarity on the plan.
”How do you begin to give such clarity when you were not even part of that plan?”
However, the union remains open to consultation because it wants to question the contents of the plan, construed by the union as a unilateral implementation of service conditions by management, Ntsobi said. — Sapa