Public workers set to march to parliament on Friday

Public service workers in the Western Cape will march to the parliament buildings in Cape Town on Friday (9 December) over the protracted wage impasse with government.

Workers in this province were meant to join the nationwide strike organised by three trade union federations on 22 November, but their plans were disrupted by South African National Taxi Council (Santaco) protests taking place in Cape Town on the same day.

The strike last month was organised by the SA Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu), the Federation of Unions SA (Fedusa) and the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu). A memorandum of demands was handed to Public Service and Administration Minister Thulas Nxesi at a protest held outside the offices of National Treasury in Pretoria, demanding salary increases of 10%.

In response, the Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA) said the matter is now one that belongs to the Public Service Co-ordinating Bargaining Council and further engagements should be held with that council.

It said it could not present a better offer than the 3% baseline salary increase and 4.5% non-pensionable increase on the current R1 000 monthly stipend paid to civil servants. When this offer was rejected it unilaterally implemented the baseline increase of 3%.

Big numbers

If the government’s offer is implemented according to the 7.5% increase, the public service wage bill would rocket to nearly R700 billion.

If the 10% hike demanded by unions is met by government it would add R49 billion to the state’s wage bill, which would see the total public wage bill spiral even higher to R714 billion.

Moses Mushi, DPSA head of communications, previously told Moneyweb that the government is seeking to urgently commence negotiations for the 2023/2024 financial year before the budget vote next year.

Picketing to continue

Cosatu spokesperson Richard Mamabolo said workers will continue lunchtime picketing during the festive season as they gear up to continue their fight going into 2023.

“The festive season is here, and we would not want to have workers being disrupted. The other thing is, if we take workers on a march now, the likelihood is that government will withdraw their bonus funds,” Mamabolo said.

“The programme definitely continues in the coming year, because already, they’ve made the implementation of the 3% wage offer,” he said.

The stalemate also puts pressure on President Cyril Ramaphosa, who is seeking re-election as the ANC’s party president, and a second term as country president.

Read: Public sector wage talks leave Ramaphosa in tight spot

This has become even more crucial following Cosatu’s decision not to back Ramaphosa in the upcoming national executive conference. The federation supported his campaign in 2017 when he was elected president of the ANC.