THE majority of public sector unions in South Africa have signed a one-year wage hike deal, a cabinet minister said on Tuesday, as government looks to cut a huge spending bill and boost economic prospects worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic.
When talks started in March, public sector unions representing more than 1 million teachers, police and nurses, wanted a salary hike of consumer inflation plus 4% for all workers in the 2021/22 fiscal year.
Government offered zero increase at the outset, but changed tack during a conciliation process after parties deadlocked and labour threatened strike action.
In July, Public Service and Administration Minister Senzo Mchunu offered civil servants a 1.5% salary increase plus a cash payment, which the majority of unions, including the South African Democratic Teachers Union and the Public Servants Association, accepted on Monday.
“Thank you for your leadership, thank you for negotiating with the interests of public servants and the citizens at heart,” Mchunu said in a statement welcoming the deal.
“Your sacrifices during these negotiations did not go unnoticed, late hours, minimal sleep and increased workloads are but some of the things you have had to endure.”
The government is trying to contain its wage bill, which accounts for about a third of consolidated spending and which has risen quickly in the past decade.
The huge wage bill has been flagged among major concerns for credit-rating agencies that already rate the sovereign as “junk”.
The collective agreement was signed by the majority of labour unions, which include the South African Democratic Teacher’s Union (SADTU), the National Professional Teachers’ Organisation of South Africa (NAPTOSA), the Health & Other Services Personnel Trade Union of South Africa (HOSPERSA), the Public Servants Association of South Africa (PSA) and the Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa (DENOSA).
However, the National Education, Health and Allied Workers Union (Nehawu), which is the largest organisation in the public sector and the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) have rejected the wage deal.
The government needs to curb spending on civil-servant wages to meet its expenditure ceiling and deficit-reduction targets, but has encountered opposition from politically influential labor groups representing 1.3 million state workers.
Finance Minister Tito Mboweni has vowed that any raises must be accommodated within the current fiscal framework, and other expenditure will have to be cut should a planned pay freeze fail to materialize.
The interim accord, which provides for 1.5% raises and a cash gratuity for civil servants, is a “stop-gap measure” because negotiations failed to deliver a binding agreement, said Claude Naiker, a spokesperson for the Public Servants Association, which represents more than 230,000 state workers.
The increases and gratuity will be backdated until the start of the fiscal year on April 1, he said.
- Reuters
