Public service unions have rubbished a statement by the acting minister of Public Service and Administration on the implementation of a final wage offer of an average 7.5% hike, saying the offer was never presented to them.
PUBLIC service unions under the SA Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu), the Federation of Unions of South Africa (Fedusa) and the Congress of SA Trade Unions (Cosatu) have rubbished a statement by the Acting Minister of Public Service and Administration (PSA), Thulas Nxesi, on the implementation of a final wage offer of an average 7.5% hike, saying the offer was never presented to them.
In a joint statement, the unions denied rejecting 7.5%, saying it was never presented.
Speaking on behalf of the unions, Denosa president Simon Hlungwani said the misleading statement has led to erroneous media reports that public service unions have rejected a revised offer of 7.5% from the employer.
“This is not true, there was never a 7.5% offer that was presented at the Public Service Co-ordinating Bargaining Council, but the government has been trying to pull the wool over public servants by distorting the offer,” said Hlungwani.
The unions had initially demanded a 10% increase, however, dropped to 6.5%, which they had said was below inflation. The Public Servants Association (PSA) had given President Cyril Ramaphosa seven days to respond to their demands after they rejected the offer of a 3% salary increase.
Hlungwani said: “The government has sneakily decided to combine the R1,000 stipend and a 3% baseline increase in its calculations and rounded it up to a fictitious 7.5% increase. This means that the government is making an extraordinary claim that this R1,000 stipend amounts to 4.5% and combined with their current 3% offer this amounts to 7.5%.”
The PSA condemned Nxesi’s statement and said it was unethical conduct to deliberately mislead the public regarding the implementation of a 7.5% wage offer.
“The last official offer of the employer remains the disappointing 3% as far as the PSA is concerned. Ironically, the employer withdrew the same offer at the bargaining council. The minister must be desperate to lie publicly even though he knows the truth, unless he is not informed.”
The PSA said the government was attempting to cause confusion between employees and members of the public, by creating a perception that public servants are greedy to a point of rejecting a 7.5% wage offer, which is above CPI.
The association added that it was prepared to sign the 7.5% offer that the government has “lied about”.
“The conversion of the R1,000 gratuity to 4.5% is disingenuous as the money has already been eroded by the interest rates that have increased three times since … The money could not even match the increase stolen from the workers in 2020. The employer is aware that putting the R1,000 on the baseline will result in workers getting less than R300 on their disposable income,” said the PSA.
The public service unions under Cosatu, Fedusa and Saftu said this has resulted in the planned national day of action on Tuesday. Hlungwani said all aggrieved public servants will down tools and take to the streets.
“We call on the government to accede to the reasonable demands that will counter the high inflation, the skyrocketing petrol prices, unaffordable food and public transport prices.”
