COSATU Spokesperson, Sizwe Pamla said there is no end in sight for the current wage negotiations between unions and the governement.
“There is no end in sight because they requested to meet their political principals…the last time at the PSCBC [Public Service Coordinating Bargaining Council] they went back to meet their political principals…workers are demanding that the political principals go to PSCBC if they’ve got something new to say,” he said.
Unions are demanding Consumer Price Index (CPI) +3% for lower level employees and CPI +2% for mid-level employees. They also requested a one year wage agreement cycle while the government has offered a three-year wage agreement. Government has offered 4.5% for workers in the level one to 10 scale and a 5.5% increase for employees in the 11 to 12 scale.
Negotiations have been ongoing since October 2017. The previous three-year deal ended on 31 March 2018.
On Tuesday, 17 April 2018, public sector unions reportedly locked state negotiators at the Public Service Coordinating Bargaining Council (PSCBC) in Centurion demanding that negotiators put an end to the wage disagreements and strike a deal.
Speaking to Political Analysis South Africa on Wednesday, 18 April 2018, Pamla said that workers have become irritated over wage negotiations.
“It’s been an offer that has been on the table for some time so this irritated the workers because we were expecting that they were going to bring something new,” he said.
