Public Sector Unions Declare War On Ramaphosa Over Wages

CHARLES MOLELE

THE National Education, Health and Allied Workers Union (Nehawu) has insisted on pushing ahead with its litigation case against government’s failure to implement the salary adjustments agreement despite their meeting with President Cyril Ramaphosa on Friday.

Nehawu, COSATU’s largest public sector union with a membership of 235,000, has accused Ramaphosa’s administration of backtracking on the multi-year wage agreement for public service workers.

Nehawu was the first COSATU affiliate union in 2015 to endorse Ramaphosa as the next ANC president ahead of the party’s elective congress.

This week Ramaphosa was forced to meet with top leadership of Nehawu after several months of talks between unions and government failed to produce any tangible results.

Finance Minister Tito Mboweni announced during his budget speech in February that there won’t be any salary increases for close to 1 million public servants despite the standing agreement with the public sector unions.

Mboweni also