Today's Labour News

newsThis news aggregator site highlights South African labour news from a wide range of internet and print sources. Each posting has a synopsis of the source article, together with a link or reference to the original. Postings cover the range of labour related matters from industrial relations to generalist human resources.

Nehawu calls 4.7% wage increase for public servants a ‘spit in the face’

Details

PSCBCBL Premium reports that the Department of Public Service & Administration (DPSA) announced recently that public servants would receive a wage increase of 4.7% on 1 April, in line with a wage deal signed by the employer and four unions at the Public Service Co-ordinating Bargaining Council (PSCBC) in March 2023.

The two-year pay deal translated into public servants getting a wage increase of 7.5% during 2023/24 and projected consumer price inflation (CPI) for 2024/25. Employees set to benefit do not include senior management. The two-year wage agreement was signed by Sadtu, PSA, Naptosa and Hospersa. Nehawu, Popcru, Denosa and Sapu did not sign the wage agreement in protest over the government’s decision to unilaterally implement a 3% wage increase for public servants in October 2022, among other grievances. Thulani Ngwenya of police and prisons union Popcru rejected the 4.7% wage increase, labelling it insufficient and warned that the union was prepared to “mobilise its members to march to Pretoria” to demand an above-inflation increase. He added that the 4.7% wage increase was an “insult” to Popcru members struggling to make ends meet, “yet are expected to serve on the front lines of the fight against crime”. Nehawu president Mike Shingange said the wage agreement was a “spit in the face of hardworking public servants”. He commented further: “The 2025/26 wage negotiations won’t be easy because workers want to claw back ... losses suffered over the past five years, since the reneging on the last leg of the wage deal signed in 2018.”

  • Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Luyolo Mkentane at BusinessLive (subscriber access only)


Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page