ANC could lose our vote over wage row Nehawu
The non-implementation of wage increases for public servants has prompted the National Education, Health and Allied Workers ’ Union (Nehawu), SA’s third-largest public sector union, to seek an urgent meeting with the top leadership of the governing ANC.
The government and organised labour have been on a collision course since financeminister Tito Mboweni pencilled in cuts to the public sector wage bill in his budget review in February, after which the state reneged on a deal for pay hikes for state employees.
Nehawu is an affiliate of trade union federation Cosatu, part of the ANC tripartite alliance. Meeting with the governing party may be an attempt to put political pressure on the Treasury to meet its legal obligations under the agreement.
The union held a special national executive committee meeting on Saturday to discuss a range of issues, from the nonimplementation of public-sector wage agreements to personal protective equipment for healthcare workers.
The department of public service & administration has approached the labour court to have the wage agreement signed in 2018 at the public sector co-ordinating bargaining council (PSCBC) declared unconstitutional.
The state has refused to implement the last leg of the deal, due on April 1.
Nehawu general secretary Zola Saphetha said the union wants to tell the ANC that “our support must not be taken for granted ”. The ANC will have to work “very hard” to win back its members ’ hearts and their continued support for the former liberation movement.
Reneging on the wage agreement for 1.3-million public servants “might force us to consider other options due to the way our members and workers have been treated by the ANC government ”.
SA is to hold local government elections in 2021.
Nehawu legal representatives lodged court papers yesterday to oppose the department ’ s application to set aside the agreement.
“Nehawu still maintains that the enforcement of a collective agreement is best executed at the PSCBC arbitration process, and Nehawu’s role in the labour court matter is only limited to challenging the invalidity and unconstitutionality of the resolution and not its enforcement, as a claim to enforce does not belong in the labour court,” Saphetha said.
The union is to hold a meeting today with public service & administration minister Senzo Mchunu and his health and employment & labour counterparts Zweli Mkhize and Thulas Nxesi over the matter.
ANC spokesperson Pule Mabe did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
NEHAWU MAINTAINS THE ENFORCEMENT OF A COLLECTIVE AGREEMENT IS BEST EXECUTED AT THE PSCBC ARBITRATION PROCESS