Unions demand new deal

PUBLIC sector unions are bracing themselves for a bitter war to improve the living and wage conditions for members following their joint demand for a consumer price index and 4% salary increase across the board.

The unions tabled their demands at the Public Service Co-ordinating Bargaining Council on Monday. Included in their demand was an urgent call to the government abolish levels 1 to 3 and allow all public servants to be employed on an entry level 4.

The unions are also demanding that the government increase the housing allowance to R2 500, saying the current amount of R1 300 was too little.

Mugwena Maluleke, who represents Cosatu affiliated unions at the Bargaining Council, was yesterday adamant their demands were a “mutual interest” matter for the workers and the employer.

“We presented our demands to the employer. Our view is that the R1 300 housing allowance is too little. Our members do not qualify for a mortgage loan when they approach the different banks in the country. Adding more to their miseries they also do not even qualify for a RDP house,” Maluleke said. If they succeed, unions expect their demands to come into effect from April 1 this year.

Maluleke said their demands are aimed at finding solutions to the impasse between the employees and government, saying if common ground is not found between the parties, the unions will be able to declare a dispute which would entitle them to go on strike.

Public Service Association president Dr Lufuno Mulaudzi agreed with the sentiments, saying their primary aim was to improve the living conditions of their members.

Mulaudzi emphasised that the unions were demanding a single term agreement, saying that the government had reneged on the Resolution 1 of 2018 agreement, which was an agreement to increase public servants agreements after three years. The unions have now approached the Constitutional Court to rule on the matter after the Labour Appeals Court ruled in favour of the government that it should not increase salaries due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The unions have also asked the government to provide a danger allowance of 12% of the basic salary of front-line workers who are faced with disasters such as the Covid-19 pandemic.