Durban - The Public Servants Association (PSA) has warned the SA Revenue Service (Sars) to accept workers’ demand of a wage increase of 7% within seven days or face more mass action. Workers nationwide downed tools on Wednesday.
Handing over a memorandum to the employer’s representative at the Sars Durban branch on Wednesday, PSA provincial manager Mlungisi Ndlovu said workers were demanding that the employer accedes to all their demands, which were tabled in the bargaining forum of Sars last year.
He said the consumer price index as of October last year was plus 7% and they were demanding the same figure for all employees across the board to be implemented from April 1 this year.
The public service union wants the government to do away with multiple-term salary agreements. Other demands in the memorandum were full and equal medical aid and housing allowances for all employees, as it had been established that not all employees received the same allowances.
“The full allowances as previously agreed should apply to all employees.
“Workers also demand that Optivest and MOSO Consulting Services be appointed as an additional medical broker for Sars employees.
“The workers further want 10 working days per annum as pandemic leave for vaccination, isolation and testing as well as 1.5 pay progression.
“The union also demands that all vacancies must first be ring-fenced for internal staff and where suitable candidates cannot be found internally then the matter must be referred to the national oversight committee before there’s a deviation and external appointments are made,” Ndlovu said.
On the appeals committee, the union wanted an independent standing statutory committee dealing with appeals for disciplinary cases which will have autonomy from the current committee. They alleged that the current committee was both the player and referee, as they approved charges and decided on the outcomes of hearings in most cases.
They also wanted an independent standing statutory committee dealing with suspensions of employees.
“The PSA expects that these demands will be favourably considered by the commissioner and that the PSA will receive a prompt response to its demands within seven days of receipt of this memorandum, to avoid any further or increased action and mobilisation from the PSA,” said the memorandum.
Receiving the memorandum on behalf of Sars senior manager Senzo Nkuna said they wanted to reiterate their commitment to negotiate at the national bargaining forum and engage with all the stakeholders involved.
Daily News