Trade union guns blazing
Cosatu, Saftu lash out at plans to trim the public sector
TRADE union federations Cosatu and the South African Federation Trade Unions (Saftu) have lashed the government’s plan to trim the public sector and unbundle troubled power utility Eskom.
Cosatu, the ANC’s alliance partner, came out guns blazing yesterday against some announcements by Finance Minister Tito Mboweni.
Delivering his maiden Budget speech, Mboweni said the government would cut the public sector wage bill by R27billion over the next three years and this year freeze salary increases for members of Parliament, provincial legislatures and executives at public entities.
Mboweni walked a tightrope yesterday in his speech, noting the government would collect R15.4bn less than its estimate in October last year.
Economic growth – crucial in job creation – will remain sluggish, with projected Gross Domestic Product growth rise of 1.5% this year and 2.1% in 2021.
According to the Budget review document, if approximately 30000 of the 126710 public servants aged between 55 and 59 took up the offer of early retirement, it could save government around R20.3bn.
“The public wage bill is unsustainable. We must shift expenditure to investment,” he said. The first step is to allow older public servants who want to do so, to retire early and gracefully.”
In the face of stiff opposition, Mboweni said the government was going ahead with the unbundling of Eskom and also attached strict conditions for the R6.8bn guarantee for SABC, including restructuring of the company – a move seen by the unions as a way of cutting jobs.
He said the government would inject R23bn into Eskom this year to pay its debt.
“We are saying Eskom has a debt and they must service it. The R23bn a year is meant to pay their debt. It’s not meant for salaries,” said Mboweni.
This has raised the ire of Cosatu, which played a crucial role in Ramaphosa’s election as president of the ANC.
Cosatu national spokesperson, Sizwe Pamla, said the federation’s unions in the public service would not accept attempts to trim the public sector wage bill.
“He knows the government cannot unilaterally impose those adjustments on workers. I think he was just doing it to show off or try and pacify investors because our unions will oppose that thing. They will first have to go and present that at the bargaining council for labour to consider it. We will accept or reject it,” Pamla said.
Pamla said the Budget was the final proof to the federation and its unions that President Cyril Ramaphosa’s administration had no tangible plans or ideas other than wanting to punish workers.
“How can you want to introduce early retirements when you do not have a proper ratio of nurses, doctors, police and teachers in the public service. They want to fire experienced people,” he said.
He said the public sector wage bill, which is around 35% of GDP, had been stable and that there was no need to cut it at the expense of workers.
“They have run out of ideas to address youth unemployment, so they
want to replace their parents with them.
Getting rid of experienced workers when you don’t meet the ratios… is decimating public service.
“The SABC announcement does smell of plans to ensure retrenchments.
“These people must just come out and say whether they have a plan for the SABC or not.
“There has been ample time to explain these measures and what they mean when the president was addressing Parliament during his State of the Nation Address (Sona) and when he was replying during the Sona debate,” Pamla said.
Saftu slammed yesterday’s Budget as “a savage attack on the workers and poor” and threatened mass shutdowns on March 26 to 27.
On the cutting down of the public sector, the federation said in a statement: “These soothing words hide a plan to butcher jobs in the public service, at a time when there is a desperate shortage of teachers, doctors, nurses, community health workers and staff in all the other public services.”
The ANC said it would again meet
These soothing words hide a plan to butcher jobs in the public service, at a time when there is a desperate shortage… Saftu Statement
with Cosatu after next week over Eskom after the federation’s central executive committee.
On Monday, a meeting – where Ramaphosa was present – between a Cabinet committee on Eskom was deadlocked.
ANC treasurer-general, Paul Mashatile, said yesterday the unions were the key in the Eskom matter.
“We have been meeting with Cosatu and the National Union of Mineworkers and we explained to them that the unbundling is not part of privatisation,” said Mashatile.
“We will continue to talk to the unions,” he said, adding that Mboweni had delivered a tough Budget.