Trade union and government negotiators in the public service remain light years away from a settlement, raising the real prospect of another pay strike involving up to a million public servants next week.
“This is not a fight that we are going to end up losing,” said Fikile Hugo, who chairs the labour caucus representing seven Congress of South African Trade Union affiliates and the mainly white Public Servants Association.
“It may take us the three years of the intended three-year agreement, but it’s something we will pursue. If [Minister of Public Service and Administration] Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi unilaterally implements her offer, she must prepare for a long battle.”
Public service pay talks — in which trade unions confront the African National Congress-led government as an employer — have become an annual flashpoint, sparking a national strike in 1999.
Hugo said the unions were currently balloting for a strike next Thursday.
Fraser-Moleketi has exhorted unions to take the national interest into account and be aware that high increases affect social spending. “The state’s offer … must be viewed in the context of government’s commitment to improve public service delivery,” she said. However, the government remained committed to pay talks and saw no need for unilateral implementation of its offer. Currently the state’s annual wage bill is R97-billion.
The minister took trade unions by surprise a month ago when she declared a dispute after the failure of conciliation through the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration. At the time unions were demanding a pay increase of 12%, which they reduced to 8,5% and again to 7% this week, in addition to medical aid and housing benefits.
Last week, negotiations broke down when the labour grouping pulled out of collective bargaining, but bilateral negotiations have continued between the state and individual unions.
The government is determined to keep its offer within the target inflation band of 3% to 6%.
Its initial offer was 4,4%, which it upped to 5,5% with 1% performance-related bonus and a commitment to offer a housing allowance to all public servants “over time”. Currently, 27% enjoy this benefit.
Unions claim the government’s hard line is driven by the desire to restructure the public service into a “lean, mean machine”, seeing this as the prioritisation of managerial prerogative and market mechanisms over worker interest.
“The minister came with an already concluded stance saying they will only give us inflation- related adjustments for the next two years,” said Hugo. “They never had any intention of real bargaining.”
Kenny Govender, the chief negotiator in the public service department, described the union demands as “totally unrealistic”. “Government has put an affordable offer on the table, so that we can meet other national priorities.
“They seem to be driven by the idea that the larger the amount they demand, the higher the settlement. I think they are also being driven by their members, and are not providing leadership.”
Govender said the government hoped one-on-one talks with unions would lead to a majority union position, and that negotiations would then move back to the bargaining council.
Hugo confirmed there had been “some bilateralism to try and break the deadlock”. However, he emphasised that the unions would only be satisfied by a percentage point increase on the current employer offer.”