Police officers are not allowed to go on strike, the Johannesburg Labour Court ruled on Friday.
Meanwhile, protesters barged through the gates of the Public Service Coordinating Bargaining Council (PSCBC), in Centurion, ahead of further public-service wage talks between government and union negotiators.
Police called for reinforcements and cordoned off the street in front of the PSCBC after the few hundred protesters barged their way in. Negotiators were forced to park their cars blocks away and walk to the building.
At the Labour Court, acting Judge Vuyani Ngalwana confirmed an interim order granted last Friday preventing South African Police Service members from striking and the Police and Prison Civil Rights Union (Popcru) from encouraging its members to do so.
Ngalwana, however, amended the order to read that only officers employed under the South African Police Act cannot strike.
A determination on who is a civilian employee of the SAPS and employed under the Public Service Act will still be made. These employees will be allowed to strike.
Addressing journalists afterwards, Popcru spokesperson Pat Ntsobi said the ruling will benefit those employed under the Public Service Act. The union’s next step will be determined by the outcome of the negotiations on public servants’ salaries that are being held at the PSCBC on Friday.
Speaking before Friday’s ruling, Ntsobi said although the public-service strike seemed to be winding down, the ruling would affect future industrial action. ”We may have other encounters in the future and we want the court to give a clear indication of who may and may not strike.”
Paul Kennedy, advocate for the SAPS, argued on Thursday against allowing even support staff to strike. ”There can be no doubt that if support personnel go on strike it would seriously compromise the services of the SAPS,” he said.
Popcru’s advocate, Peter Buirski, said it is possible to distinguish non-essential from essential SAPS staff. Kennedy, however, said this would be ”highly complex, difficult and confusing”.
Buirski countered: ”There’s no way one can argue that a gardener in the SAPS is someone who performs an essential service.”
Wage talks
Most of the demonstrators at the PSCBC were wearing the red T-shirts of the South African Democratic Teachers’ Union and the National Education Health and Allied Workers’ Union. They were holding up posters still bearing a demand for a 12% increase — unions have since lowered that to 9%.
Chief union negotiator Shireen Pardesi convinced them to move outside the gates to the PSCBC, where they continued toyi-toying.
Wage talks were again delayed for several hours on Friday while the Independent Labour Caucus, the Congress of South African Trade Unions and the government caucus took time to meet separately. The full council was expected to meet at 1pm, when unions would reveal whether they had accepted a new offer by the government.
While the offer officially on the table includes a 7,25% wage increase, the government’s chief negotiator, Kenny Govender, has indicated that a 7,5% general increase was discussed as part of a settlement.
On Wednesday, Govender said the government had made its final offer and would no longer negotiate. ”As government, we made our position very, very clear when we tabled a final written offer. It is very clear, in that it indicates the end of the line for government,” he said.
He said the government was not considering unilaterally applying its increase, but did not say what it would do should the unions reject its offer. — Sapa