Unions slam 'IMF influence' TNA Reporter, The New Age, Johannesburg, 30 April 2015 Negotiator for COSATU-affiliated public sector unions Mugwena Maluleke has condemned the alleged influence of the IMF on government's offer in the public sector wage negotiations. Maluleke said the unions continue to reject the view that the government cannot afford the 10% wage increase and a R1500 housing allowance they are demanding. "We believe this argument was advanced by the IMF last year and we have condemned it. We are a developmental state and therefore need public servants who will be able to render quality public service to our people. "We need to address the issues of corruption and inefficiency to ensure we are then able to get the money that has been wasted and use it to motivate public servants and improve the quality of services, Maluleke told ANN7. The IMF last year, ahead of the negotiations, advised the South African government to curb growth in the wages bill in order to stabilize rising debt levels. This is after they reduced the country's economic growth outlook from 2.3% to 2.1% for this year. Maluleke believes this is the reason why the government has remained steadfast on its offer of a 5.8% salary increase and R1100 for housing. Labour analyst Mamokgeti Molopyane said the government lowering its offer to 4.8% from its original 5.8% early this year and increasing it again to 5.8% had not helped the negotiation process. "This means the spirit of negotiations is not in the right frame and when that happens, often a strike might result. "I do foresee a public sector strike and I cannot see how they (the government) can avoid it at the last minute." Molopyane said this is evident in the language are using describing the Treasury as "an enemy of the working class," which is the same language used by public sector unions prior to the 2006-2007 negotiations that resulted in a strike. This is a situation that the country cannot afford, she said. Public sector unions went on a march outside the office of the finance and the public service and administration (DPSA) ministry last week in Pretoria intended to pressure the government to accede to their offer. The COSATU Bloc (Joint Mandating Committee, JMC) >From The New Age, hard copy Transcribed, DT -- -- 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.
