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Proposed Wage Bill cut an attack on workers: Cosatu

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Cosatu’s spokesperson Sizwe Pamla says unions have a standing agreement with government on the wage bill and they want it implemented.

This comes after the government’s Tuesday proposal at the Public Service Co-ordinating Bargaining Council (PSCBC), that the 2018 collective agreement on salary adjustments for the public sector should be reviewed.

Cosatu says this is an attack on workers and the unions are threatening a public sector shutdown if workers don’t get their salary increase in April.

The three year agreement that was reached in 2018 would see public a sector salaries increase of up to 7% in April this year.

The federation’s stance is that a review is non-negotiable.

Speaking on Morning Live Pamla says: “We will not allow a position where workers are victimized. When delivering the budget, the minister does not talk about the wasteful expenditure and the use of consultants at SOEs and government departments. Instead he wants to target the civil servants.”

Finance Minister Tito Mboweni has proposed to cut the public sector wage bill by over R160 billion to manage the national debt.

Pamla says the targeting of servants is sad turn of events.

He says: “SAA and Eskom are given unconditional bailouts and the decision makers in these places are not being put to task, instead they are rewarded.”

“Workers are the ones being targeted, their wage increases should be frozen.”

In the video below, Cosatu’s Pamla says the federation rejects the minister’s plans on the Wage Bill

Cosatu’s Matthew Parks has described Mboweni’s announcement as shocking.

He says: “It is an extreme act of bad faith and poor negotiations by government to indicate to us they want to withdraw from this year’s agreement.”

In the video below, C0satu’s Matthew Parks says unions can’t negotiate in good faith when government signs an agreement and afterwards seek to run away from it

 

Economists have long argued that the government should take a tougher line with unions given the severe fiscal constraints.

Ratings agency Fitch says public sector wages account for around a third of consolidated government expenditure. Edited by Busi Mthanti

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