Cosatu says it will appeal the ruling by the Labour Appeal Court over the public sector wage increase. Unions applied to the court seeking an enforcement order of Clause 3.3 of the 2018 Wage Agreement.
The court however found that the clause is unlawful and the government does not have to hike public servants’ salaries this year.
The government had said it did not have the funds to increase public servants’ wages, as it battles the coronavirus pandemic and an ailing economy.
Cosatu deputy president Mike Shingange says the pandemic is no excuse for the government to renege from a signed agreement and has been waging this battle since the dawn of democracy.
“We will go all the way to the Constitutional Court and much as we are still going to look into the entirety of the judgment but there is no way that we are going to let this thing go without challenging it. And we are going to have other avenues and defend ourselves. The government has sought to renege from a signed agreement long before we had the coronavirus. Secondly, the government has embarked on collective bargaining for over 20 years now.”
