While the ongoing strike at the South African Bank Note Company, which produces notes for the South African Reserve Bank, will not be felt immediately, the country’s economy will not be sustained if it goes on for a month.
Workers at the company in Pretoria North said that while they printed money ahead of time, the excess was not inexhaustible.
“The effects would not be felt right away since we print ahead of time; so right now printing will only be delayed,” Fikile Mano, spokesperson for the striking workers, said yesterday.
Workers in the canteen and printing departments were unhappy about wage increases and their medical aid subsidy, he said.
As such, the printing machines and tea services had come to a standstill, leaving the Reserve Bank with about a month’s worth of money to feed into the economy.
But Reserve Bank spokesperson Jabulani Sikhakhane said there was no need to panic.
“The strike will not have any effect on the availability of bank notes because we have sufficient amounts in stock to meet the requirements of the economy,” he said.
He said they remained hopeful that a mutually beneficial solution would be found through the normal processes of negotiations.
Mano and his colleagues embarked on the strike to protest a deadlock in negotiations, saying the Reserve Bank was neglecting them in favour of issues of less importance, like renovations.
He said: “We have been engaging with the deputy governor about a medical subsidy since 2012,” Mano said, adding that they had received no joy.
“We reached a dispute and followed all the correct procedures to embark on a legal strike. Right now the negotiations have been suspended due to disagreements on the medial subsidy,” he added.
He explained that what they did was extremely important but they were not prioritised.
“The people who work directly for the Reserve Bank, as it is a major institution in this country, earn more than those at the company and actually get a medical subsidy, but we don’t.”
When the issue of medical aid subsidy for workers went back on the table, management agreed that they had not been fair on them, he said.
“If they give us the 6.6% offer and, in principle, agree to paying medical aid in the future, we will agree but they have declined to do so,” he said. Their initial proposed demand was 8.5%, he added.
Mano added that they were also striking over the Reserve Bank’s wastage of money on renovations, instead of paying them.
“The Reserve Bank has spent more money on refurbishments without considering us.”
Mano said they would be marching to the Reserve Bank to hand out a memorandum containing all their issues once they had obtained the necessary permission.