The majority of unions have signed government’s multi-term salary agreement and this is binding on all parties who have not yet signed the agreement, Public Service and Administration Minister Minister Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi said on Thursday.
”I’m pleased to announce that the majority of unions have signed and this has been achieved well in advance of the of the 21-day period,” Fraser-Moleketi said in Pretoria.
The five unions who signed the agreement are the South African Police Union (Sapu), the Democratic Nursing Organisation of SA (Denosa), the National Education Health and Allied Workers Union (Nehawu), the Health and Other Services Personnel Trade Union of South Africa (Hospersa) and the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru).
The Congress of South Africa Trade Unions (Cosatu) and the PSA have not yet signed.
Fraser-Moleketi thanked the South African Military Health Services and the volunteers who ensured that critical services continued throughout the public-service strike.
However, the intimidation and unruly behaviour that occurred, ”cast a shadow” on employees of the public service and diminished the professional status of all public servants.
She said the possibility of charges being brought forward against workers who intimidated other workers still existed.
Government’s offer includes a 7,5% salary increase, revising certain allowances (nightshift, danger) by 25%, and an increase in medical and housing subsidies.
It was agreed that deductions on the no-work no-pay policy for employees who had been on strike for four days or less would be a lump sum. For those who were on strike for more than four days, the deductions would be staggered over a maximum period of three months.
The department has yet to calculate the cost of the 28-day strike.
Fraser-Moleketi said a public-service summit to be held in 2008 would look at rebuilding the people’s confidence and trust in the public service as this had eroded because of the public-service strike.
”If there is anything we leant from this, is that there is a better need for communication from all sides.”
She said she would not have done anything different in the way that the strike and negotiations were handled.
Hospitals back to normal
Hospital services were almost back to normal after the strike, Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang said on Thursday.
”There is a commitment from labour and the department to normalise the situation and the services are operating close to normal as before the strike,” Tshabalala-Msimang said.
The minister was briefing media in Pretoria about discussions she had had with trade unions and provincial health ministers.
There were still backlogs which the department needed to address. She said an audit would gauge the severity of the backlog, and how much it had cost the department to transfer patients from public hospitals to private hospitals during the strike.
”The incidents of violence and intimidation relating to the recent strike are very regrettable and we have to learn from this experience,” she said.
The parties agreed that the department and labour should make extra efforts to improve the caring ethos amongst health workers.
”We agreed that we have to find a way of working together in this area to ensure that in spite of whatever differences may arise in future, the patient always come first,” Tshabalala-Msimang said.
The minister said R1,1-billion had been allocated for the improvement of working conditions for nurses in this financial year. – Sapa