Civil service strike set for Monday
Wage demands: union vows to bring country to a halt on ‘Day of Rage’.
Minister ‘must take us to court if she believes it’s illegal’.
If you want to get an ID document, or even have to go to court on Monday – postpone it, because if the 240 000-member Public Servants Association of South Africa (PSA) goes ahead with its threatened strike, government offices will be empty.
The PSA vowed yesterday to bring public services in the country to a halt on Monday, challenging Public Service and Administration Minister Ayanda Dlodlo to “take us to court if she believes the strike is illegal”.
Addressing a briefing in Pretoria yesterday to launch the “Day of Rage” for public service employees, PSA general manager Ivan Fredericks said the union had served the departments of public service and administration (DPSA); and the South African Social Security Agency (Sassa) with strike notices to start the labour action due to government’s “failure to present employees with reasonable salary offers”.
“We are public servants and not public slaves. Our members are faced with rising food costs due to the Value Added Tax (VAT) and petrol going up,” said Fredericks.
The PSA wants a one-year agreement of a 12% increase across the board, while government is offering a three-year deal ranging between 6% and 7%, depending on the employee’s level, including a restructured housing allowance.
Fredericks said the PSA declared a dispute in the public service coordinating bargaining council (PSCBC) “based on the realisation that the employer was negotiating in bad faith and prolonging the negotiation process unduly”.
“This process should have been concluded earlier with salary adjustments effected from April 1 of each year. Public servants became increasingly frustrated about the delayed process.”
The dispute over failure to reach agreements with the DPSA and Sassa were conciliated over the past two months without resolution.
Reflecting on the negotiation process, Fredericks said: “It is becoming more evident that the negotiations may have been a staged process between the state and its alliance partners – the Congress of South African Trade Unions-affiliated unions and even the general secretary of the PSCBC – a previous representative of Cosatu-affiliated Popcru.
“These alliance partners may not have anticipated the response from the PSA in the process.
“Looking back at the items contained in the initial demand from Cosatu and the final response from the employer at the conclusion of the negotiation process, it is clear that the outcome was already anticipated.”
PSA deputy general manager Tahir Maepa said the union was “not involved in politics and will not allow our members to be used for political expediency”.
He said next week’s PSA strike – although excluding essential services – would affect border posts, which fall under the control of the department of home affairs, services at the departments of water affairs and justice – among others.
“If the minister believes that the strike is illegal, let her take us to court,” he added.
Asked about the impact of double digit wage demands in the country’s tough economic climate, Maepa said: “You cannot say you don’t have money and not open the books. Are you bankrupt?
“We want them to feel the pinch. Government has never shown love for the people of this country and we cannot allow the status quo to continue.”
He urged other public-sector unions, which include the National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu) not to sign the government-proposed wage deal.
“Should Nehawu sign the agreement, that will be tantamount to a betrayal of workers and we will be defeated,” said Maepa.