Less than an hour before they were scheduled to resume talks with government negotiators on Tuesday, all the public-service unions rejected a 7,25% wage increase proposal brokered by mediators.
”This is not substantially different from the 6% that the government has been offering for many weeks,” Willie Madisha, president of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), said on behalf of all unions.
”The unions remained ready to engage but on the basis of a serious offer being placed on the table,” he said.
Speaking at a press conference attended by union leaders from Cosatu-affiliated public-sector unions, the Independent Labour Caucus and a grouping of the Health and Other Services Personnel Trade Union of South Africa, the National Union of Public Service and Allied Workers and the National Teachers’ Union, Madisha blamed the government for not making substantially improved offers.
Rather, the offer had improved by only 1,2% to 6,5% since talks started. Last year, the offer stood at 5,3%, later becoming 6%.
”This is not the kind of bold, decisive action on the part of the government that we need to ensure that the strike is resolved.
”We hope that the government will act decisively with an improved new offer by today [Tuesday],” he said.
Unions were scheduled to meet government negotiators at the Public Service Coordinating Bargaining Council (PSCBC) on Tuesday afternoon to discuss the mediators’ proposals.
Meanwhile, Madisha said the marches and picketing planned for Wednesday would go ahead.
”Never before has there been such levels of militancy, determination and willingness to make sacrifices,” he said.
Contingency plans
Meanwhile, the government was putting contingency measures in place to reduce the impact of Wednesday’s looming strike, Public Service and Administration Minister Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi said on Tuesday.
”In the event that it does happen we have taken contingency measures to make sure that hospitals and schools are secure,” she told a media briefing in Johannesburg.
On Tuesday, the government was scheduled to look closely at a 7,25% wage-increase offer that mediators came up with over the weekend.
”Their [the mediators’] proposal requires us to put more money on the table … we will look at it very closely at the bargaining council today [Tuesday].”
The government’s current across-the-board wage offer of 6,5% would see the salary of a ”level one” public servant increase by 15,7%. This included night and weekend pay and a housing allowance. Top level employees would get a 9% increase in wages.
Fraser-Moleketi said the government had already added more than 40% to its original package. The housing allowance had gone up from R242 to R457 a month. This would be available to those both renting and buying houses. In the past it had only been available to the latter category.
The allowance would cover a bond of R70 000. Unions wanted an allowance to cover a R300 000 bond, said Vuyelwa Vumendlini, chief director of remuneration policy, job evaluation and conditions of service in the minister’s department.
She said a pre-occupation in recent weeks with percentage increases had detracted attention from the comprehensive salary package.
”This has created a major diversion from making a change to the overall remuneration structure in the public service.”
The minister said that more than 600 essential-service workers had been given letters of dismissal by Monday night. She said workers who had been striking legally would have the days not worked deducted from their pay.
Sympathy strike
The South African Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) was granted permission to embark on a sympathy strike in solidarity with public-service workers by the Johannesburg Labour Court on Tuesday.
Handing down judgement, Judge Johan van Niekerk said the proposed strike by municipal workers would have an impact on the national government, as a lawyer representing Samwu had argued.
”Municipalities play a role in the running of the national government and the disruption of services will therefore have an impact on the government as the primary employer.”
He said the one-day strike scheduled for Wednesday would also have ”some effect on the bargaining process”.
Van Niekerk based his argument on provisions of Section 66 (2) (C) of the Labour Relations Act.
The Act stipulates that when employees embark on a secondary strike, ”that strike must have a direct or indirect effect on the business of the primary employer”.
The primary employer in this case was the national government.
However, he ruled that employees classified as essential-service workers be prohibited from joining the strike.
”The one day strike called by Samwu is a protected strike and those employees not in essential services might participate.”
The South African Local Government Association was instructed to pay all legal costs suffered by Samwu during the court proceedings.
The association took Samwu to court on Tuesday morning in a bid to prohibit them from embarking on the solidarity strike. — Sapa