The DPSA's agent, Mr Simons, appears to be playing a dangerous game of pouring poison into the ear of Cde Nathi Mthethwa _____
New Age2.png Public sector unions 'undecided' [alleges Mr Brent Simons] Shaun Mpshe, The New Age, Johannesburg, 13 April 2015 Public sector unions' indecisiveness in the wage talks is the reason why the Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA) resorted to conciliation, spokesperson Brent Simons said. The statement sent to The New Age, intended to brief new acting minister Nathi Mthethwa on the situation, said: "Labour accepted the improvements to the offer, but was of the view the employer can do more. "Notwithstanding the request of the employer, labour was unable to express how much more was required and indicated that they had no mandate to move on the employer's improved offer," Simons said. 13 April 2015.jpg The new offer was a 5.8% salary increase based on projected inflation figures, a raised housing allowance of R1100 from R900, and a 28.5% increase in the medical aid subsidy across the board for three years. Labour on the other hand is demanding a 10% salary increase and a housing allowance of R1500 for one term. Simons said that it took the unions three months to revise their original demand of a 15% increase and a R3000 housing allowance, while the government revised its offer. "The employer is of the view that this is not a process of negotiations in good faith. In other words, the process is not based on the principle of mutual gains." "It is clear that labour is unable to articulate its preferred settlement. The employer has recommended third party intervention to assist the parties to reach a settlement," Simons said. The spokesperson of the COSATU-affiliated unions, which comprise nearly 60% of public sector employees, Mugwena Maluleke, maintains that the employer (government) "just reinstated an offer that was there before". "The projection we agreed upon in October was 5.8%, so they must negotiate a real increase above 5.8 %. We agreed with the employer that the 5.8 % we'll take as a base projection." In the first half of the conciliation process on Friday, where the focus was on the housing subsidy, no agreement was reached as the state remained steadfast on its R1100 offer while unions eyed R1500. This will prove to be a dark cloud on conciliating other issues and it is clear that rapport is missing between the two parties. Maluleke, who's also the general secretary of the South African Democratic Teachers Union (SADTU), said that the unions also reject the multi-year agreement offered by the employer. "When we called our members for the whole of last week, they gave us a clear mandate that we must stick to our single year. We need to make sure that there is a real increase until such time that we can see the employer is playing ball. We're not going to entertain a multi-year agreement," Maluleke said. Notwithstanding this bad start to the negotiations, the government "remains confident that the conciliation process can bring all parties close to an agreement," Simons said. The three-year wage agreement reached in 2012 expired on April 1. [email protected] From: http://tnaepaper.co.za/ -- -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] . --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "YCLSA Discussion Forum" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
