Cosatu 'unaware' of plans to lay off public servants
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) says it is unaware of plans by the government to lay off 30 000 public servants in the next three years.
The Mail&Guardian reported on Friday that the job cuts form part of the government's cost-cutting measures.
The newspaper says the treasury has set aside R4-billion for this financial year to kick-start the process of issuing severance packages.
It would ultimately reduce the government's salary bill by R20-billion.
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But Cosatu's Sizwe Pamla doesn't believe there are any truth to the reports.
"This issue has never been raised at the Public Service Co-ordinating Bargaining Council (PSCBC), where all of these issues have to be discussed.
"Secondly, from where we stand, it really doesn't make sense. Here you have 52 million people who are being serviced by 1.2 million public servants. Those public servant are already overworked and underpaid. We have more than 120 000 vacancies in government that needs to be filled. So to hear people talking about retrenching public servants is really nonsensical from where we stand.
"It is something that we will never entertain. It is something that we will treat as a rumour because, for now, that is what it is. But from where we stand we are actually going to continue to insist and push for government to fill all the vacancies that are yet to be filled in the public service because our members are overworked and underpaid."