Durban - As the SA Revenue Service (Sars) tabled an offer of a 1.5% increase for its staff, workers at the Durban office picketed yesterday.
Workers embarked on strike action on July 12 over the wage increase.
The employees are represented by the National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu) and the Public Servants Association (PSA).
Yesterday, Sars said it had proposed an offer to implement an across-the-board wage increase of 1.5% for permanent employees in the bargaining unit, backdated to April 1 this year.
Mlungisi Ndlovu, the PSA provincial manager, said the union had been in negotiations with Sars for some time.
“They were refusing initially to give us an increase on the baseline. They wanted to give us a 0% increase.
“They then committed to use R70 million on the baseline which converted to a percentage increase of 1.39%.”
He said the PSA was busy with the mandating process on the revised offer of 1.5%.
However, he added that workers were not happy with an increase below inflation, given the rising costs of food and fuel.
“We call on the minister of finance to intervene and allocate a budget for an increment for Sars employees.”
Ntokozo Nxumalo from Nehawu said its members had rejected the 1.5% offer.
“So our strike action will be continuing until all our demands of 10% have been fulfilled by the employer. We understand the employer has requested a meeting with all organised labour on Friday. We hope the employer will give us a much better offer.”
Sars said yesterday that after engaging with organised labour, it had made a proposal to reach a final settlement.
“The slight adjustment to the across-the-board proposal is possible due to projected savings from a delay in recruitment against an initial plan.
“In the spirit of transparency and a commitment to resolving the dispute, Sars management has decided to allocate the savings towards the increased salary proposal.”