The South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu) formally declared a dispute on Friday with the Department of Education over non-payment of teachers.
The dispute was declared over an agreement on incentives — termed ”accelerated progression payments” for good performance — Sadtu said.
The collective agreement had been taken in the Education Labour Relations Council (ELRC) in 2006, said Shireen Pardesi, Sadtu negotiator.
Payment was outstanding to teachers in Gauteng, Mpumalanga, the Eastern Cape, Northern Cape and Limpopo.
Teachers who had qualified for the payments were owed 3% of their salaries, Pardesi said.
The dispute will go to the ELRC in Pretoria for conciliation, then mediation and for arbitration if no agreement was found.
Pardesi said the conciliation had to be convened within seven days.
”We really do hope that the Department of Education uses the time available and cooperates with us to address this matter speedily,” Sadtu general secretary Thulas Nexi said in a statement.
”We don’t want to start 2007 with all our energies focused on a labour dispute instead of dealing with the serious educational challenges that we face.”
The country’s second largest union, Sadtu is the largest union in the public service with 230 000 members.
The Department of Education was not immediately available for comment. — Sapa