High wage bill hurts SA

With regard to the protracted negotiations over public sector wages and working conditions, the point stands that there is a real danger that the high wage bill crowds out expenditure on services to the public (Public sector wage bill out of control, May 23).

In 2014 the average real monthly wage of a public sector employee was 49% more than that of a private sector employee.

One does not begrudge public servants’ good wages, especially in view of the billions of rand raked off at the top through corruption and state capture. But there has been no similar increase in the quality of services provided by public servants. If anything, there has been a decline in services and fiscal discipline. There is thus an urgent need to build performance requirements into the collective bargaining process.

The collective bargaining structure in the public sector needs to be restructured along sectoral lines. It does not make sense that one overarching bargaining council, the Public Service Coordinating Bargaining Council, negotiates the wages of 1.3-million public servants from immensely diverse occupations in one forum.

There are already three sector-based bargaining councils in the public sector and the council has the power to create more.

There are many advantages to bargaining wages and working conditions sectorally in the public sector. It enables differentiated wage settlements so that public servants who are underpaid such as police officers, nurses and teachers can obtain greater increases, while bloated salaries can be frozen.

Johann Maree

Emeritus professor of sociology, University of Cape Town