Cosatu sees public-wage cuts as a ‘huge disaster’

Finance minister Tito Mboweni taking a scalpel to the public wage bill is a “huge disaster” for union federation Cosatu, which says the way it was done is “clumsy” and “reckless”.

Mboweni said in his budget address there would be huge budget spending cuts in the medium term. A R160bn drop in pay costs of national and provincial administrations and other public bodies would account for the bulk of R261bn in savings expected. The government had indicated to the Public Service Co-ordinating Bargaining Council on Tuesday that it intended to withdraw from the existing wage agreement.

Matthew Parks, Cosatu’s parliamentary co-ordinator, said after Mboweni spoke that Cosatu was shocked when the government took the decision to the bargaining council, the first time the ANC’s alliance partner heard about the drastic step. He said the decision to take it to the bargaining council collapsed the space in which to engage seriously. “We basically feel our members, nurses and teachers, are being thrown under the bus. The only fixation of this budget is around fixing the wage bill.”

Parks said Cosatu recognised the fiscal crisis SA faced, and it made proposals to address all of the crises at state-owned enterprises (SOEs), such as Eskom, as well as on the public-sector wage bill, state spending and corruption, but the ANC failed to take it seriously.

He said the only way to see the budget was as an “attack on workers”, but Cosatu would keep engaging as its members’ jobs were on the line.

Cosatu was the first ANCaligned structure to endorse President Cyril Ramaphosa’s bid to become ANC president. Parks said: “We are the one’s defending him while people in Luthuli House and the ANC are sabotaging him. It doesn’t help us when the government does not reciprocate that support. Our support is not a blank cheque,” he said.

ANC spokesperson Pule Mabe said Cosatu was part of the tripartite alliance and they continue to engage with each other. The ANC was “firmly” behind Mboweni’s realistic budget. “We did not promise people things that are not possible. We acknowledge we are leading in very difficult times,” he said.

DA finance spokesperson Geordin Hill-Lewis expressed scepticism. “I don’t believe those public-wage cuts are actually achievable,” he said. But Mboweni did “quite a good job” with very little breathing space.

EFF leader Julius Malema said his party would oppose pay cuts. He said the current agreement should be honoured, and there should be proper engagement when the next round of negotiations started.

IFP deputy president Mzamo Buthelezi said his party backed the budget though it was not satisfied with everything in it.