A six-month power struggle between the government and public sector unions has culminated in a strike by civil servants that appears to have left the two sides further apart than ever.
And it is clear that the contest of political wills has now largely superseded the basic considerations of wage negotiation — namely whether the offer on the table is fair, whether it is affordable and whether it represents a real improvement in the employment conditions of public servants.
By Monday it seemed a strike had already become inevitable, despite a final round of concessions wrung from the Cabinet mandate committee chaired by Minister of Public Service and Administration Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi.
Union officials freely admit that by then planning was so far advanced, and the momentum of anger so considerable, that there was no way to pull back.
Fraser-Moleketi has been the focus of much of that anger: she was told on one occasion during the negotiations that she needed to be ”taught a lesson”. A placard on display outside the bargaining chamber last week called on her husband, Deputy Finance Minister Jabu Moleketi, to keep her in the kitchen.
Union leaders like South African Democratic Teachers Union (Sadtu) general secretary Thulas Nxesi ascribed these attacks to the ”arrogance” with which Fraser-Moleketi began negotiations.
They were particularly outraged by her decision to declare a dispute early in the negotiations, and to hang tough during the conciliation process that followed. Apparently by the time Kenny Govender, the government’s chief negotiator, began offering significant concessions, it was too late.
The government’s initial approach was premised on a desire to set aside part of its budget for more carefully targeted new spending. The idea was to keep resources available for pay increases in middle-ranking positions, which experienced teachers, qualified nurses, police inspectors and prosecutors are fleeing in droves. New jobs were also to be created in health and the criminal justice system, where capacity constraints are seriously hampering service delivery. By the time the government had increased its offer to 6%, there was a feeling — particularly in the National Treasury — that that objective was being severely compromised. Much of the debate since has focused on whether 6%, plus 1% for the 85% of employees who perform at a satisfactory level, represents a ”real” increase.
The Treasury is a victim of its own success in making CPIX (inflation minus mortgages) the benchmark of inflation. The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) has insisted that plain CPI, currently running at roughly 3% lower, is a better measure.
In the unions’ own terms, an increase equivalent only to CPIX would constitute an improvement in the purchasing power of government salaries. What is more, the early stages of negotiations had already seen them winning about R6,8-billion in concessions on benefits through an expansion of the housing allowance and an extension of medical aid. This made the overall package considerably more favourable to workers on the lower end of the scale than originally envisaged.
This goes some way to explaining the frustration of Fraser-Molekti’s staff when a final round of deadlock-breaking compromises tabled late on Monday was rejected. Among other things, the proposed settlement eliminated the controversial ”loan clause”, which allowed the state to claw back any increment above actual inflation in a given year by limiting the next year’s increase; left open an avenue for annual negotiation on above-inflation increases; and eased restrictions on the housing allowance.
The department had fought hard to get agreement from Finance Minister Trevor Manuel for the revised offer, and believed that senior Cosatu leaders were now happy with the package. They were furious when it was dismissed out of hand.
Union officials argue that the anger of members — particularly teachers — derives primarily from their miserable working conditions, something only thorough transformation of the public sector can address. That project has been seriously set back by the process leading up to the strike, with a conference planned for next month already cancelled.
The government needs union support to make transformation work, and the unions need to maintain their influence with government if unpalatable reforms are not to be forced on them. Right now the balance of power looks more like a stalemate.
One senior official took a pragmatic view of the outcome of the dispute: ”We’ll have a short-term strike, then they’ll make an offer — probably 6,5% for one year — that lets unions save face. And we’ll get on with patching things up.”