Public sector unions sign new wage deal

The unions met with the Department of Public Service and Administration's acting minister, Nathi Mthethwa (pictured), until the early hours of Friday morning. File photo: Linda Mthombeni, Department of Communications

The unions met with the Department of Public Service and Administration's acting minister, Nathi Mthethwa (pictured), until the early hours of Friday morning. File photo: Linda Mthombeni, Department of Communications

Published Jun 26, 2015

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Johannesburg - Cosatu-aligned public sector unions have signed a new wage agreement with the state, reinstating the 7-percent wage agreement that they had withdrawn from.

The unions met with the Department of Public Service and Administration’s acting minister, Nathi Mthethwa, until the early hours of Friday morning, coming out with an agreement that failed to attract support from all unions.

Independent unions, organised under the Independent Labour Caucus (ILC), refused to sign the deal, which included the controversial removal of a clause from the 2012 agreement.

But more importantly, the new agreement reinstated the 7-percent wage increase that government had reduced to 6.4 percent in order to recover owed monies from workers. This after the state over-projected inflation and overpaid public servants last year. Cosatu and government voted to delete the clause.

The clause stipulates that if the employer over-projects inflation and overpays workers, the debt would be recovered the following year. And if they underpaid workers, the difference would also be paid in the same manner. The ILC has lambasted the move which they said would work against all their efforts.

“I don't think people have looked at the bigger picture. This will be to our disadvantage, if we don't have a means of controlling it, we will always be on the disadvantaged side,” said the ILC’s Basil Manuel.

The employer was just glad the protracted dispute had ended amicably, with a promise to pay workers the 0.6-percent difference which had been deducted from their June salaries.

Cosatu unions would hold a press briefing on Friday morning to explain how they got to the deal, while some from within the federation have already told Independent Media that the deal was mainly political.

Labour Bureau

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