Mchunu calls public to pitch into public sector wage negotiations Updated
Nokukhanya N Mntambo
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Public Service and Administration Minister Senzo Mchunu has called for proposals from the public to help resolve the deadlocked public sector wage negotiations.
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Public unions are demanding that government honours its three-year wage agreement.
As part of the 2018 three-year salary agreement, public sector workers would have received a CPI+1% salary increase in 2020.
However, due to the dire financial state of the country and complications brought about by Covid-19, the government said it was forced to renege on the agreement, implementing a wage freeze instead.
Senzo Mchunu
NATIONAL NEWS - Public Service and Administration Minister Senzo Mchunu on Monday called on South Africans to come forward with proposals for resolving the deadlock between the government and unions in the public sector wage negotiations.
This after government and public sector unions reached a deadlock on negotiations last Friday at the Public Service Coordinating Bargaining Council (PSCBC).
The Public Servants Association (PSA) said it would advise its more than 235,000 members to prepare for strike action over workers’ demand for a 7.1% wage hike.
In a statement on Monday, Mchunu said the government was still “passionately keen” to make further efforts to find a solution to the wage negotiations, hence the call for citizens to submit proposals.
Wage deadlock: public proposals welcome to assist with negotiations
By Tarryn-Leigh Solomons
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Cape Town - Public Service and Administration Minister Senzo Mchunu is calling on the public to come forward with proposals that might assist in resolving the deadlock on the public service wage negotiations between the government and organised labour. The parties reached a stalemate on Friday.
Unions are demanding a 4% plus Consumer Price Index (CPI) increase.
During a media briefing on Thursday, Mchunu said the wage negotiations were the most difficult ones yet between the parties. This was based on a number of factors, among them the bad state of the economy, Covid-19, the outcome in the Labour Appeal Court which organised labour was appealing and had taken to the Constitutional Court, and the need for urgent reform in the public service.
Government is asking South Africans for help with one of its biggest problems businesstech.co.za - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from businesstech.co.za Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Massive public sector strike to go ahead: report
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Public service unions will move ahead with planned strike action in the coming weeks, following a deadlock in wage negotiations with government.
The City Press reported that the government did not bend to unions’ demands for higher wages, and instead doubled-down on its position that there is no money to accommodate them.
Government’s revised offer to unions on Friday (23 April) did not involve paying out higher wages by budgeting more money for it, suggesting rather to shift already agreed-upon money around, by taking resettlement funds and daily allowances and channelling those to higher wages.