Public sector unions gather to talk wages
South Africa's public sector unions are expected to resume wage talks on Monday.
This comes on the backdrop of protracted negotiations with government over the public sector wage agreement.
The unions are demanding that government honours its three-year wage agreement of 8%.
The meeting will consolidate demands from affiliates of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), the South African Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu) and The Federation of Unions of South Africa (Fedusa).
South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu) general secretary Mugwena Maluleke says the unions will need to draw up demands they can all agree on before approaching the Public Service Co-ordinating Bargaining Council (PSCBC).
"If the consolidation is completed and the leadership is satisfied, that would then be sent to the secretary of the council who will in terms of the Constitution of the PSCBC then would convene a meeting of the council with the employer and the unions would then be able to deliberate on the demands," Maluleke explains.
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The matter has caused massive tension between government and public servants.
As part of the 2018 three-year salary agreement, public sector workers would have received a CPI+1% salary increase in 2020.
However, due to the dire financial state of the country and complications brought about by Covid-19, the government said it was forced to renege on the agreement, implementing a wage freeze instead.
"Sadtu's demands have already been consolidated together with the demands of Cosatu so therefore it's a collective demands," Maluleke adds.
"We are not able to share with the public at the moment given the fact that these are going to be consolidated with the other public sector unions."
Listen to Maluleke below: