Cosatu signs public sector wage deal but some unions hold out

After 10 months of negotiations, about 40% of the country’s public sector unions have signed a three-year wage offer from the department of public service and administration.

The remaining unions have about two weeks to accept or reject the deal.

If the majority of unions do not sign the deal before the end of June, the state can unilaterally implement the agreement.

The offer is an increase of between 6% and 7% in the first year, and 6% for the remaining two years. It includes a new clause to allow married couples working for the state to both receive a housing allowance.

Public service minister Ayanda Dlodlo signed the deal at the Public Sector Co-ordinating Bargaining Council last week with the South African Democratic Teachers’ Union and shortly thereafter with the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union.

Mike Shingange, the lead negotiator for labour federation Cosatu, said there was widespread dissatisfaction among workers.

Shingange said all Cosatu’s member unions, except the National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu), of which he is the deputy president, had signed the deal.

Nehawu represents about 16% of civil servants, many of whom receive the lowest-level salaries. Shingange said Cosatu was “encouraged” by the department’s’s commitment to revise the salary scales, ranging from level one (R4 000) to level 13 (R70 000) a month.

“At least they’ve committed to deal with the salary scales, because that is exactly what is creating this most unequal society in the world. You can’t get [a pay gap] like that, working for the very same state,” he said.

Cosatu’s decision to sign has been criticised by the Public Servants Association (PSA), which formally rejected both the wage offer and the three-year agreement.

PSA general manager Ivan Fredericks said: “We do not know what next year’s economy will look like. Because what if things change and we’re sitting on an agreement we signed and we can’t go back to the table?

“Our demands were also made before we knew the government was going to increase VAT,” Fredericks added.

The PSA, representing about 17% of civil servants, said it had already conducted a strike ballot among its members and received more than 50% support to embark on industrial action over the wage offer and three-year proposal. But Fredericks said such a move would serve only to “register our concern”, as the workers are powerless to stop the government from implementing the deal.

Unhappiness about the offer also exists in the Independent Labour Caucus (ILC), which represents 12 unions and 42% of the worker delegation in the bargaining council.

ILC chairperson Basil Manuel said the caucus’s members had not yet signed it and were receiving feedback from workers about the offer, but concerns remained. These included the year two and year three increases for higher-earning workers, but “clearly there are gains for workers on the lower salary rungs”.

“Under the circumstances, the possibility of a better offer is slim to nothing. Even those that rejected it from the start have failed to call more members to action, like strikes,” he said.