SA state workers seek above-inflation pay rise

214, 280910 Members of Nehawu sing and chant during the Nehawu's National congress held in Birchwood Hotel in Boksburg. Picture: Thobile Mathonsi

214, 280910 Members of Nehawu sing and chant during the Nehawu's National congress held in Birchwood Hotel in Boksburg. Picture: Thobile Mathonsi

Published Oct 2, 2014

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Johannesburg - Labour unions representing South Africa’s almost 1.3 million civil servants are demanding a pay raise that’s more than double the inflation rate.

Workers are demanding a 15 percent salary increase from April and a 3,000-rand monthly housing allowance, up from 900 rand, according to a consolidated list of demands presented on September 30.

They also want to increase the amount of paid time - off new parents can take to six months for mothers, from four months, and two weeks of paternal leave.

“The employer received and appreciated the demands from labour,” Frikkie de Bruin, general secretary of the Public Service Coordinating Bargaining Council, said on the council’s Twitter page.

The employer will “seek a mandate and revert to council soon.

They also agreed to the proposal of pre-negotiations as to reduce time in engagement,” he said.

De Bruin didn’t answer calls to his mobile phone or immediately respond to voice messages.

The wage bill, which stands at about 440 billion rand in the year through March 2015, is expected to grow 6.4 percent annually over the next three years, according to the budget.

Finance Minister Nhlanhla Nene, who will present his mid-term budget to lawmakers on October 22, has vowed to stick to the expenditure ceiling set by the National Treasury.

Inflation in Africa’s second-largest economy accelerated to 6.4 percent in August.

Outgoing Reserve Bank Governor Gill Marcus said on September 18 that the Monetary Policy Committee is concerned by the divergence of wage demands and some of the salary settlements from inflation and productivity.

 

Wage Concerns

 

The MPC is also concerned about “the possible impact of forthcoming wage negotiations, including in the public sector,” Marcus said.

“Excessive wage settlements could have adverse impacts on employment, inflation, the general competitiveness of the economy.”

Public-sector workers went on strike for three weeks in 2010 before settling on a wage increase of 7.5 percent.

In 2012, unions and the government agreed to a three-year settlement, raising wages by 7 percent in the first year and then inflation plus 1 percentage point for the next two years.

“This time we are looking for a single-term agreement, we are not prepared to negotiate another multi-year agreement,” Sizwe Pamla, spokesman of the National Education Health and Allied Workers Union, which represents 220,000 public-sector workers, said by phone today. - Bloomberg News

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