Competition Commission employees will be picketing at the statutory body's Pretoria offices over a wage dispute on Friday.
Skhumbuzo Mathumulo, an employee and member of the Public Servants Union (PSA), said the dispute stemmed from an investigation which found that a large number of employees at the
Commission were underpaid.
Acting Deputy Commissioner, Thulani Kunene, confirmed the findings of the study conducted by Deloitte and Touche.
"The study was commissioned by us (Competition Commission) to benchmark salaries. It did reveal that some employees are being underpaid but we have initiated a process to correct that and ensure that everyone will be paid a market-related salary," he said.
Kunene said he was confused about the motivation behind Friday's picket because a meeting was held with employees where they were told the bench marking process would be implemented in January.
"A formal dispute has not been declared, we told them implementation will take place in January and the next thing we got a letter saying they were unhappy about the bench marking process."
Mathumulo said the picket was taking place because the Commissioner said he could not guarantee that corrective measures would take place in January 2007.
"He said he could not guarantee it will happen in January 2007 so it may be in December or in 2010," he said.
The picket will take place between 1pm and 2pm. - Sapa