Wage agreement reached at Sars
Alida de Beer
The SA Revenue Services (Sars) was to return to full operation yesterday morning (Wednesday) after the strike over salaries came to an end.
The Public Servants Association (PSA), the majority union at Sars, was the first to agree to a wage increase agreement at the weekend and end its strike that began on Thursday last week.
Nehawu (National Education, Health and Allied Workers' Union), that has about 40% of Sars employees as its members, initially rejected the agreement and continued their strike, calling on Sars to revert back to the negotiating table with a better offer.
However, it was announced yesterday that they also accepted the three-year agreement that granted an 8% salary increase from
1 April 2019, and in year two and three an increase based on the projected CPI plus an additional 2%.
The agreement also involves an increase in the long service awards, hourly shift allowance rate, the introduction of a new leave type of prenatal and vaccination leave and the introduction of a two-year leave cycle for family responsibility leave.
Various other items were deferred to be resolved under the auspices of the National Bargaining Forum.
Sars said the parties have committed to work together to enhance productivity, improve revenue flow and increase compliance levels.
The George branch was one of the few in the country that remained open during the strike. Out of the 53 branches, 33 were closed due to poor staff turnout.