Implement CoLA on inflation rate - some civil servants

MANZINI - Some civil servants say CoLA should no longer be negotiated, but automatically implemented by government using the inflation rate.

This is what some members of the unions under the banner of Public Sector Associations (PSA) called for during their consultative meetings about the Joint Negotiation Forum (JNF).

According to the PSAs secretariat, apart from the Manzini Branch, other branches that met on Friday included Nhlangano, Mhlume and Madlangempisi. The secretariat said one of the resolutions was that the cost-of-living adjustment (CoLA) should be entirely removed from the JNF agenda as it was not an item which needed to be negotiated.

They said the view of the members was that since CoLA was not a salary increment, but an adjustment meant to cushion their salaries which had been eroded by the inflation rate, which was caused by the increase of prices for goods and service, government should use the inflation rate to implement it at the the beginning of every financial year.

Negotiated

Currently, the issue of CoLA is included in the JNF agenda and is negotiated until the two parties (PSAs and government negotiation team (GNT)) reach an agreement. It is worth noting that, sometimes, government offered workers zero per cent and at the end they get a E0.00 salary adjustment.

Again, the secretariat said their members, in some of the above mentioned branches, resolved that CoLA should be staggered so that it could benefit the lowly paid workers in the government system more. It is worth noting that even civil servants under the Manzini Branch raised this issue. They even said the PSAs should consider the real distribution of money. For instance, they said if the budget was E200 million, it should be divided by the number of public sector workers (about 40 000) and distribute it using that formula. They said one of them made an example that if the increment was E1 500, every civil servant would get that amount.

Once more, the secretariat said as trade union movements, they should escalate the mobilisation of members from the ground. They said the workers’argument was that many employees had financial challenges, thus there was a need for unions to visit them on the ground and give them the information as it was, instead of relying second hand information, which could be distorted.

“By so doing, they would be agitated and respond aggressively when they realise what was happening at the round table,” they said.

Furthermore, they said this would mean the trade union movement would take an aggressive approach and could get support from workers from other sectors and the public at large.

Moreover, the secretariat, mainly the Swaziland National Association of Teachers (SNAT) Secretary General Sikelela Dlamini and Swaziland Democratic Nurses Union (SWADNU) Secretary General Mayibongwe Masangane said the resolutions from all their branches would be consolidated and that would be where they would get a way forward.

The PSAs consultative meetings continue today, tomorrow and Thursday.