Lawyers representing the finance minister are opposing the application by trade unions in the public sector who are requesting the court to force government to implement the agreement that would hike workers’ salaries by up to 5.4%.
The state and unions are battling it out in the Labour Appeal Court over government’s decision to unilaterally withdraw part of the agreement, which saw public servants not receiving salary increases in April.
The union held a briefing where they announced they would be leading the nationwide marches by community healthcare workers on Thursday.
Government has consistently failed to implement structural reforms which, despite being continually referenced, remain elusive, writes Andrew Duvenage.
Treasury plans to close the country’s consolidated budget deficit, which now stands at 15.7% of GDP, through various measures but at the top of this is its plan to close the tap on public sector wage increases.
Finance Minister Tito Mboweni warned that public finances needed to be rehabilitated as efforts went into helping the economy to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown.
The unions representing more than 1.2 million public servants have been in a drawn-out deadlock over government’s failure to stick to a 2018 agreement to increase workers’ salaries this year.
Public service workers woke up to their regular salary payments on 15 April in direct contravention of a 2018 agreement to increase wages.
The non-implementation of the salary increases sent shockwaves throughout the public service with workers’ hopes that government would change its approach dashed.
Government said this was part of plans to slash the public sector wage bill by R160 billion in the next three years.
This comes after the government proposed a review of the wage increases which were due next month.
Confronted with an unprecedented situation, the PSCBC said that based on the provisions contained in the Labour Relations Act, the council did not have a process in place allowing parties to withdraw from the agreement.
Finance Minister Tito Mboweni tabled a budget that aimed to cut the state wage bill by R160 billion over the next three years.
The federation has reacted with anger to government’s attempts to unilaterally withdraw from a 2018 wage agreement and slash the public wage bill by R160 billion over the next three years.
The local currency had initially strengthened after Finance Minister Tito Mboweni unveiled the plan to cut the public sector wage bill by R160 billion.
The organisation said it saw Finance Minister's Tito Mboweni's budget as a challenge to labour and has again rejected government's plans to claw back on the public wage bill.
By Dr Jack & Curtis.
In the Budget Speech on Wednesday, Finance Minister Tito Mboweni announced that the wage bill would be cut by just over R160 billion over the next three years.
