Public service wage negotiations officially broke down in Pretoria on Friday, labour unions said.
”The conciliator issued a certificate of non-conciliation this morning after minimum talks in the Public Service Co-ordinating Bargaining Council,” said Public Servants’ Association (PSA) general manager Anton Louwrens.
The government had apparently informed the conciliator that it would not budge on its pay rise offer of 5,5%.
This left the parties with limited options, Louwrens said. The government could opt for a lock-out — closing its offices and paying no salaries, and the unions for strike action.
”Only intervention by the ruling party [the African National Congress] or the minister [Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi] can now solve this deadlock,” Louwrens said.
National Union of Public Service and Allied Workers general-secretary Success Mataitsane said strike action appeared to be inevitable.
His union would propose a ”complete disruption of services”.
”We must apologise to the public for any inconveniences they may experience over this period. But we were pushed into this position by an arrogant government.”
The leadership of all public service unions are to meet in Pretoria on August 16 to decide jointly on a way forward. Until then, unions would report back to their members and obtain mandates on their individual positions. If no solution was found, a strike was likely to start around the beginning of September, Mataitsane said.
Louwrens agreed that strike action would be considered seriously, although the unions might opt to ask the ANC for political intervention. But in the spirit of ”bad faith” displayed by the government and its ”uncompromising attitude”, he wasn’t sure whether the unions would agree to further discussions.
”We are extremely disappointed,” Louwrens said. ”Especially after the government raised our expectations that it was seriously reconsidering its position by postponing conciliation talks scheduled for Monday to today [Friday].”
The unions initially demanded a 10% pay hike, but lowered that to an 8,5% increase. They have said they would be willing to move even lower.
The 8,5% was derived from a CPIX (Consumer Price Index minus mortgage bonds) figure of 5,5% plus an additional 3,1% ”to achieve a real wage increase”.
The government has raised its initial offer of 4,4% to 5,5%. Last month, the employer declared a dispute in its wage talks with employees — leading to the conciliation process.
Labour unions represented about 750 000 public servants, with negotiations affecting over one-million, Louwrens said.
The Department of Public Service and Administration could not be reached for comment. – Sapa