‘Forget unions, give us CoLA’
MANZINI – “I’m up to my neck with calls and messages from civil servants seeking to benefit from the cost-of-living adjustment (CoLA),” says the minister of Public Service.
The Minister, Mabulala Maseko, on Monday, informed this publication that since the publication of the press statement relaying that government had taken a decision to award three per cent CoLA of the monthly basic salary across the board, with effect from April 1, 2022 and an additional once-off payment of one per cent of the annual basic salary across the board, he had been flooded with calls and messages from civil servants. Maseko said most of the civil servants were conveying a similar message, which purportedly sought that they fell within the list of beneficiaries of the collective agreement reached by government and the Eswatini Principals Association (EPA).
Inflation
The agreement, he said, meant that the CoLAwould be awarded to managers and non-unionisable civil servants.
This, he said, was an indication that people were in dire need of money, as their salaries were being eroded by inflation.
“The people are saying we should disregard their unions and implement the CoLA as they need it,” said the minister.
However, he said, there was a stumbling block in adhering to the pleas, despite that he understood the needs of those contacting him. He said the reason this would not be possible was the ongoing process at the Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration Commission (CMAC).
It is worth noting that the conciliation of the dispute was postponed to Friday last week as the parties involved did not form a quorum.
Maseko said in compliance with the existing recognition agreements with the National Public Service and Allied Workers Union (NAPSAWU), Swaziland National Association of Teachers (SNAT), Swaziland Democratic Nurses Union (SWADNU), Swaziland National Association of Government Accounting Personnel (SNAGAP), government would only table the offer to members of EPA, those employees regarded as managers and those employees who, by the nature of their work, could not join a union or are non-unionisable.
It is worth noting that government and the PSUs deadlocked with government on the issue of agenda during the joint negotiation forum (JNF).
During the JNF sitting on April 27, 2022, the PSUs and the Government Negotiating Team (GNT) engaged each other with the aim of setting the agenda items for discussion during this financial year, according to priority. However, the parties failed to agree on the merging of the agenda items as well as the criteria and justifications used by each party in arriving at the order of priority of the agenda items presented at the table.
Deadlock
As a result, there from, the parties agreed to disagree and signed a deadlock on the setting of the agenda. The agenda items presented by the GNT were in the following order of priority: CoLA, negotiations framework, finalisation of the salary review appeals and salary review.
The PSUs, on the other hand, also presented their list of agenda items in the following order of priority; finalisation of the negotiations framework, allowances, finalisation of salary review appeals, salary review, CoLA for the 2022/23 financial year and quality public service delivery.
Maseko said the proposal from the GNT was to alternate the agenda items until the list was exhausted.
However, this proposal, he said, was rejected by the PSUs, who proposed that agenda items that were left pending from the previous financial year 2021/2022 should be first on the agenda. This, he said, was not acceptable to the GNT, who held the view that there was no agreement compelling parties to bring forward items pending from the previous financial years, but rather the agenda should be set based on the needs for that financial year, hence the deadlock.