Saftu wants 7% wage increase for public servants

NEGOTIATIONS between the South African Police Union (Sapu) and the government have reached a turning point.

Independent Media understands that Sapu – a South African Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu) affiliate was supposed to head for arbitration and not conciliation since its members were regarded as essential workers.

The union had a disagreement on several points with the commissioner at the Public Service Co-ordinating Bargaining Council (PSCBC) in Centurion yesterday.

“The employer raised a point of jurisdiction; they were arguing that PSCBC was not the right platform to hear the matter and of which we differed from them, meaning they are still in negotiations with the majority unions,” said Sapu national spokesperson Lesiba Thobakgale.

Thobakgale said the government would provide the union with terms of jurisdiction on June 7, and the union would respond to the terms of jurisdiction three days later.

Meanwhile, dozens of members of public service unions demonstrated outside the bargaining council offices. The government had offered the majority of unions a 1.5% salary increase and about a R900 incentive for 12 months. The majority of unions were expected to report back to facilitators whether workers accept the 1.5% increment.

Saftu general-secretary Zwelinzima Vavi told workers to remain strong until the government made a “sensible” offer. Vavi described the proposed increase as an insult since public servants did not receive any salary increment last year. He said the 1.5% increase is not money on the table but a pay progression that they get annually and a once-off R978 which he described as a “lollipop”.

“To hell with their lollipop, to hell with the 1.5% progression; we want a 7% salary increase. We also want adequate Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) because we are dying in the hospitals. Nurses in one of the biggest hospitals are being forced to handle Covid-19 patients with their bare hands without adequate PPE,” said Vavi.

He invited other federations, including Cosatu, to join hands with him to secure a 7% salary increase for public servants in the current wage talks.

“You cannot love President Cyril Ramaphosa more than you love your own members. You cannot love the ANC more than you love your own members. This is the time for you to teach Ramaphosa and the ANC and embrace other workers and embark with them in a common struggle to defeat the agenda of Finance Minister Tito Mboweni and Ramaphosa,” said Vavi.

Sapu acting president Thandi Mkhize said: “Police officers are being killed a lot and our leaders are quiet about it. These are fathers, mothers to their families. We cannot take it any longer. What is 1.5%? Do they want to see us dying, failing which all the streets in South Africa will be closed… we are shutting down the country,” said Mkhize.