Majority of unions sign 1.5% salary increase for public servants
The majority of civil servant trade unions have signed government’s latest offer of a 1.5% salary increase for all public servants.
The agreement brings to an end long and fractious negotiations between the parties.
The unions were initially demanding 8% after government initially proposed a zero salary increase.
The Public Servants Association of South Africa (PSA), which represents 230 000 public servants, said it had witnessed the country's depending economic crisis due to the Covid-19 pandemic including the sharp increases in inflation.
The association said due to these factors, it seeks to rather accept the offer so that the economy is not damaged further.
The decision by majority unions to accept this offer has averted a massive public wave strike.
In a media briefing on Tuesday, the Public Service Co-ordinating Bargaining Council (PSCBC) said the agreement allows for a non-pensionable cash allowance payable to all employees who were in the employ of the public service on or after 1 April 2021.
The allowance is paid on a sliding scale where level 1 employees receive a cash equivalent of R1220 per month and a level 12 employee receives R1695 per month.
"Now that the agreement has reached the majority the employer immediately starts the process of getting it implemented. So, within the month of August, it will be implemented.
"We haven't left all our other demands hanging, they have been put into processes so that they continue. It is not unusual that there are outstanding items that are not directly linked to the salary increase. Many people focus on this as a single entity of bargaining, this is one of a number and there are about 13 other items which have been moved over to the process," said the National Professional Teachers' Organisation of South Africa’s Basil Manuel.
Manuel said the unions compromised, but this was not unusual during a negotiation.
National Education, Health and Allied Workers' Union (Nehawu), Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (POPCRU), and the South African Policing Union did not sign the agreement.
The unions are still headed to the Constitutional Court on August 24 to appeal a decision by the Labour Court ruling that declared the 2018 wage agreement invalid.
The government failed to implement the wage agreement citing fiscal pressures.
Manuel said they will still pursue this Constitutional appeal.
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