Police will not join the public-service strike until at least Wednesday, under an undertaking by the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) that was made an interim order of the Labour Court on Friday night.
The South African Police Service (SAPS) brought an urgent application to stop police officers from striking after Popcru threatened industrial action if the public-service pay dispute was not resolved by the close of business on Friday.
However, Popcru claimed it had insufficient time to file opposing affidavits.
Under the interim order, Popcru may not promote, encourage or support police participation in the public-service strike, pending Wednesday’s court hearing. Popcru is further required to inform its police members — through the media and circulars — of the contents of the interim order, particularly that Popcru has undertaken not to join the strike.
Justice Andre van Niekerk ordered that Popcru show by Wednesday why the order should not be made final.
A Congress of South African Trade Unions-affiliate, Popcru has 120 000 members, just more than half of them police officials.
Popcru attorney Kevin Allardyce said the undertaking did not imply that the union agreed with ”any of the allegations” in the SAPS notice of motion. It was ”done purely as a matter of expediency,” he said.
In a founding affidavit in the SAPS notice of motion, police Deputy Commissioner Mala Singh submitted that a police strike would be in breach of the Labour Relations Act and the SAPS Act.
”The public is entitled to receive the policing services, which will be compromised and disrupted if the proposed strike proceeds,” she said. ”I do not need to emphasise the significance of rendering safety and security services in the country.
”Disruption to these services will be most severely felt by the most vulnerable members of the community. Put simply, and without exaggeration, this may be a matter of life and death.”
Revised package
Meanwhile, public-service unions will consult their members before deciding to accept or reject the government’s revised salary package, which includes a 7,25% wage increase.
Cosatu president Willie Madisha said this on Friday afternoon at a press conference in Centurion, near Pretoria, hosted by all 17 public-service unions.
”We are going back to the members to say this is what the employer has said,” he said. ”So here, we cannot sit and say there are points of agreement. There are no points of agreement yet. The points of agreement would only be there after our consultations with the membership.”
However, he added: ”We may agree with some of those areas put on the table by the employer. We may disagree. But it is the membership who will say that. But on the point of 7,25%, we are very clear we want to emphasise that our membership has demanded 10%.”
While the government has stuck to the 7,25% proposed by independent mediators, it has apparently added another R400-million in the revised offer to the total package .
”[The] government’s current offer has, as a total package, increased very significantly over its original offer, in response to the demands of labour,” Public Service and Administration Minister Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi said in statement.
She stressed that the revised salary structures, which involve occupation-specific dispensations, propose that professionals in the public service, who make up more than 80% of employees, would ”significantly enhance” their salary packages over the next few years.
”We will be able to recognise good performance, qualifications and length of service in a way that rewards the worth of these professionals appropriately,” she said.
Nurses and legally qualified public servants would benefit first, with the revised salary structures to be implemented from July, followed by teachers and principals in January next year, according to the government proposal.
Salaries
The government also undertook not to withhold salary payments, except where the no-work, no-pay rule applied. Some unions said they were concerned that the salaries of certain public servants had been withheld on Friday. Many public servants are paid on the 15th of the month.
”We have instructed our attorneys to collate the information and, if necessary, to proceed with a court order. We see this as an attempt by government to victimise our members and break the strike,” said Madisha.
”The department has decided that on particular days there would be blanket reductions for members of certain unions,” said Dave Balt, president of the National Professional Teachers’ Union of South Africa.
Earlier on Friday, a technical task team — comprising mediators as well as government and labour negotiators — met to discuss minimum service agreements and suggestions on how to deal with dismissed workers and the no-work, no-pay rule.
It is understood that there was a proposal that dismissed workers be allowed to return to work to receive a warning instead of being fired. Unions declined to comment on this.
Earlier in the day, a small group of protesting public-service workers barged through the gates of the Public Service Coordinating Bargaining Council (PSCBC) complex, illegally demonstrating on the premises in support of labour demands. Police and the building management allowed them to hold their protest as it was done peacefully, thus averting confrontation.
Government and union negotiators were scheduled to return to the PSCBC for talks on Sunday.
Schools to open
In KwaZulu-Natal, all public schools, further education and training colleges, public adult-learning centres and education department offices will be open on Monday.
”The interim delegation of authority to close schools granted by the superintendent general to principals is hereby revoked with effect from Monday June 18 2007,” said Cassius Lubisi, the provincial education superintendent general, in a statement.
Assessment and internal examination activities should restart as soon as ”practically possible” and be finalised by July 31, he said. Each district is also required to form a core team to monitor the ”functionality” of institutions and offices.
On Thursday, KwaZulu-Natal education minister Ina Cronje urged the province’s teachers to return to work for the sake of the pupils. She said she respected the teachers’ right to industrial action, but that the effect on the province’s 2,7-million pupils was ”considerable”.
Earlier this month, Cronje announced the postponement of all mid-year examinations. — Sapa