This means Treasury will have to make reductions in other areas of government spending which include allocations for key service delivery budget items.
Public Service and Administration Minister Senzo Mchunu said that his department was working with its back against a wall and he hoped that government and labour could find one another when they meet on Tuesday.
Government’s proposal to labour during the latest round of wage negotiations, which deadlocked, proposes a holistic redesign of the remuneration framework among others as it turned down most of the money-related demands by public servants.
Budget guidelines propose a wage freeze for the next three years, among other options – including a new strategy for public sector pay.
In its responding papers to the Labour Court application made by the unions, Treasury said the workers who had been beneficiaries of decades of above-inflation salary increases should understand the exceptional circumstances in which government found itself.
