The government will not budge from its offer of a 6,5% wage increase to the public-service sector.
Briefing the media in Pretoria on Friday, Public Service and Administration Minister Richard Baloyi urged the sector to accept the offer in the best interests of the country.
The current offer of the employer is for a salary increase of 6,5% with effect from July 1 2010, and an increase in the housing allowance from R500 to R630 per month.
The government previously made an offer of a housing allowance increase of R620, but has since amended it with an additional R10.
Baloyi said the government would continue with intensive political engagements with labour union leaders to avert a national strike.
He said that he met the leadership of the Congress of South African Trade Unions and the Independent Labour Caucus (ILC) on Thursday, and both sides agreed to resolve the dispute within the next seven days.
“The settlement that we are giving is a public-interest settlement. We need to come to a point where we find each other; we can’t pay what we can’t afford.”
Baloyi said the ink would dry on the government’s offer by Wednesday next week.
“We can’t keep going backwards and forwards,” said Baloyi.
He said the offer was “reasonable and fair” given the trends developed in relation to how the state determined salary increases in line with inflation projections.
“Given the varied obligations by the state to the entire nation, the final offer remains a reasonable and fair offer on the basis that further expenditure on personnel remuneration compromises capacitating of and delivery by the state,” he said.
Labour has demanded an 8,6% increase.
“Given the limited space to manoeuvre in negotiations, we only managed to secure 6,5% as the final offer to the table,”said Baloyi.
“We as a government have already stretched the budget beyond the limit and have already exposed some of our priorities to great risk.”
Baloyi also said it was unfortunate that the Public Servants’ Association (PSA) had taken to the streets in protest, “choosing not to heed my request for union leaders to meet the government as we tabled the final offer”.
‘Truly ludicrous’
Meanwhile, labour called government’s offer an insult.
“The improvement of R10 per month [for housing] is truly ludicrous and cannot be regarded as anything but an insult,” the ILC, which represents 11 public-service unions said.
“It is virtually impossible to believe that the state is serious and acts in good faith by publicly stating that it wishes to avert a strike and then offers [another] R10 per month.”
The ILC said statements and undertakings made during informal discussions when unions attempted to reach amicable settlements had to be taken with more than a pinch of salt.
“In the history of collective bargaining in South Africa, the methodology followed by the state as employer is unprecedented and it is evident that it missed a golden opportunity to take responsibility, address the plight of their employees and avert the looming strikes.
“The unions, and also the public, can come to no other conclusion that the state as employer actually wishes for a state of labour unrest,” the ILC said.
The Federation of Unions of Trade Union (Fedusa) has also thrown its support behind the ILC.
“We also are of the opinion that the offer made by the employer is truly an insult, thus provoking the ILC members to go on an industrial strike,” said Fedusa’s deputy general secretary, Gretchen Humphries.
“The R10 improvement to the housing allowance is ridiculous and makes a mockery of collective bargaining and cannot be taken seriously. — Sapa