The star Online
Monday, November 27, 2006
Workers and communities must get ready for a bitter battle next year when the government and unions begin their three-yearly wage negotiations, Cosatu's Zwelinzima Vavi has warned.
Speaking in Cape Town on Saturday, he told public servants that they should be psychologically prepared and mobilised should the union federation "decide that we must push things to the wire" in the negotiations.
He said the aim was "to reverse some of the setbacks we have suffered since 1999", when the government first unilaterally imposed a wage settlement.
Vavi called this the root of much of the ensuing strife between the ANC-led government and the alliance.
Next year's negotiations will lay down the salary increases for civil servants for the three-year period and have traditionally led to a highly publicised war of words between the state and civil servants' unions.
The Cosatu leader was addressing a congress of one of its newest member unions, the National Congress of the Public and Allied Workers Union of South Africa. The union joined Cosatu last year after it fell out with the Federation of Democratic Unions of SA.
Vavi said while public servants had consistently scored increases above inflation, and progress had been made in extending pensions and medical benefits to all workers, Cosatu "remained concerned about the wage gap".
"The worst-paid public servants still earn only about R2 500 a month. In contrast, this year parliamentarians get monthly pay of about R35 000. The salary of a director-general is in the region of R58 000 monthly. A director-general earns more in three days than a general assistant in a month".
He was vociferous about the setbacks he said the public service unions suffered after the 1999 imposition of a wage settlement. "(The government) humiliated us by implementing a settlement not agreed to with the unions."
Vavi said some progress was, however, being made "towards turning this defeat into a victory", such as the government's promise to create 20 000 jobs and improve career paths for workers.
He added that a major concern, not only for public servants but also for all workers, has been the gradual decline in the number of public servants. "Between 1996 and 2004, the number of public servants fell by over 10%. At the same time, more and more people need public services. Yet we see growing staff shortages and vacancy rates," Vavi said.
Among the issues that he urged workers to take on was a minimum-service agreement that would give public-sector health and security workers the right to strike. "We have moved far too slowly on this front. Yet we know that the only way we can restore the image of collective bargaining is when we release as many workers from the clutches of the essential services as we can", Vavi said.