The South African Police Union has slammed government for the exclusion of police officers in the monthly cash allowance to civil servants.

In terms of the new Public Sector Wage Agreement that was reached by government and public sector unions, civil servants are set to receive a monthly cash allowance of between R1 200 and R1 695  on a sliding scale backdated to April this year.

The new wage agreement also provides for a 1.5% wage increase across the board.

But unions say the government won’t say when the wage increase will be implemented.

It has only committed to start paying them monthly cash gratuity excluding police officers.

Spokesperson for the South African Police Union says, Lesiba Thobakgale says, “We had a meeting on Thursday – a PSCBC meeting where we were checking the state of readiness in terms of the implementation of the collective agreement that was concluded at the PSBC and we asked the employer whether they are ready to pay for all departments. They said they are ready to pay for all department except SAPS where they are having delays. In terms of reasons behind that, they could not give reasons and it really brings discomfort to our members because our members had budgeted on this amount of money. They were waiting to receive it.”

Unions and government lock horns over Public Sector Wage Agreement: