Strikes loom as public-sector wage dispute set to drag on
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It is highly unlikely that the dispute over the implementation of wage increases for 1.3-million public-sector workers will be resolved before the next round of wage negotiations start later in 2020, setting the scene for aggressive talks that could be accompanied by strikes.
Frikkie de Bruin, general secretary of the Public Service Co-ordinating Bargaining Council (PSCBC), and major public sector unions all indicated in interviews with Business Day on Friday that the dispute over the implementation of the final year of a multiterm wage agreement between the state and its workers would not be resolved before the negotiations start.
The agreement, which was supposed to be implemented on April 1, has been the subject of much controversy since it was signed in 2018, but finally set unions on the warpath when finance minister Tito Mboweni pencilled in huge cuts to the public-sector wage bill in February.
The reason was simple: according to the government, it is unaffordable to pay the increases in the agreement.
This was despite the state backing an unmandated offer by its own negotiators in 2018, when it was already clear it did not have the money to pay for it.
As a result of this, the government did not implement the wage increases, and that decision is now subject to court action, as well as arbitration proceedings in the PSCBC.
De Bruin said he did not believe the dispute would be resolved by the time negotiations have to start in September or at the latest in October.
He said the arbitrator would only hear oral arguments on the jurisdiction of the PSCBC in the arbitration proceedings — the government argues it is a constitutional issue — on August 28, after which a decision would have to be made on whether the bargaining council should deal with it.
He said it was likely that whoever the decision did not favour would then head to court, which would drag out the process even further.
Meanwhile, in parallel proceedings, the labour court has still not set down the challenge brought by, among others, the Public Servants Association (PSA) to force the government to implement the agreement, which would likely follow the same route by whoever loses that court case.
De Bruin said multiple issues would have to be discussed during the negotiations, which have to be settled by April 1 2021, when the new salaries need to be implemented ...
Frikkie de Bruin, general secretary of the Public Service Co-ordinating Bargaining Council (PSCBC), and major public sector unions all indicated in interviews with Business Day on Friday that the dispute over the implementation of the final year of a multiterm wage agreement between the state and its workers would not be resolved before the negotiations start.
The agreement, which was supposed to be implemented on April 1, has been the subject of much controversy since it was signed in 2018, but finally set unions on the warpath when finance minister Tito Mboweni pencilled in huge cuts to the public-sector wage bill in February.
The reason was simple: according to the government, it is unaffordable to pay the increases in the agreement.
This was despite the state backing an unmandated offer by its own negotiators in 2018, when it was already clear it did not have the money to pay for it.
As a result of this, the government did not implement the wage increases, and that decision is now subject to court action, as well as arbitration proceedings in the PSCBC.
De Bruin said he did not believe the dispute would be resolved by the time negotiations have to start in September or at the latest in October.
He said the arbitrator would only hear oral arguments on the jurisdiction of the PSCBC in the arbitration proceedings — the government argues it is a constitutional issue — on August 28, after which a decision would have to be made on whether the bargaining council should deal with it.
He said it was likely that whoever the decision did not favour would then head to court, which would drag out the process even further.
Meanwhile, in parallel proceedings, the labour court has still not set down the challenge brought by, among others, the Public Servants Association (PSA) to force the government to implement the agreement, which would likely follow the same route by whoever loses that court case.
De Bruin said multiple issues would have to be discussed during the negotiations, which have to be settled by April 1 2021, when the new salaries need to be implemented ...
