Public sector wage talks, in which considerable progress had been made prior to the tabling of the budget, have begun to falter as unions say they may need to rethink their positions. VAT and fuel levy hikes announced in the budget have angered unions, which believe this will hit the poor and working class hardest. Cosatu’s joint mandating committee chairman, Mike Shingange, said labour’s perspective had been affected by the recent VAT and fuel levy increases and they now had to measure the impact of the increases on inflation and adjust their demand accordingly. "We have a revised mandate. We have always said our members must be combat-ready. We are waiting for the minister to come back to the negotiations table…. The settlement is supposed to start on April 1 when a three-year deal comes to an end on March 31. We were chasing that deadline," he said. But containing the public sector wage bill is essential to rebalancing government spending. Bill projections written into last month...
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