The Ministry for Public Service and Administration confirmed it had declared a dispute after ”very little progress” with the Public Service Coordinating Bargaining Council (PSCBC). This comes after two months of wage negotiations.
Minister Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi said in a statement on Saturday that the next step would involve bringing in a third party in the form of a facilitator through the dispute resolution processes of the PSCBC.
The statement read that the main reasons that compelled government to take this step were because:
- There was a joint commitment by both employer and labour, upon commencement with negotiations, to finalise this process by the end of June 2004, and
- Public service employees were expecting an adjustment to their salaries with effect from July 1 2004.
On Friday, Anton Louwrens, general manager for the Public Servants Association (PSA), admitted it was a surprise.
”It’s the first time in the history of negotiations which started in 1994 that government has called a dispute. Normally it’s the unions who do so,” he said.
Government has been bargaining with eight unions including the PSA, SA Democratic Teachers Union (Sadtu), National Education, Health and Allied Workers Union (Nehawu), Police and Prison Civil Union (Popcru) and the South African Police Union (Sapu).
The unions represent approximately 700 000 public servants but the negotiations affect over a million employees.
Louwrens said the unions were asking for an increase of CPIX (5,4%) plus eight percent for this year, plus nine percent for 2005 and 10% for 2006.
”Government was not prepared to accept those offers,” Louwrens said.
Government was allegedly only prepared to offer CPIX and that each year’s increases would be individually negotiated.
The next stage is to call in conciliators who will attempt to bring both sides closer together, Louwrens said, warning that if this failed, strike action was an option. ‒ Sapa