PAY NEGOTIATIONS
Public wage talks remain deadlocked
Another disagreement in the crucial wage talks is over vacant posts
The government and its employees have once again failed to reach a settlement in crucial wage talks that will have a decisive effect on the state of SA’s public finances. On Tuesday, trade unions and employer facilitators resolved to adjourn negotiations to give the government time to number-crunch various options after a lengthy horse-trading session failed to reach resolution. The government’s latest offer made on May 4, proposed a pay increase 6% to 7% for 2018-19 and consumer price index (CPI) plus 1% to CPI plus 0.5% for the successive two years. Unions have demanded CPI plus 2% for the lowest levels and CPI plus 1% for the highest. Labour has set its CPI calculation at 5.5%. The Treasury is under pressure to contain the public service wage bill, which has been growing faster than inflation and consumes 35% of its total expenditure. Credit-rating agencies in particular argue that the budget needs to be rebalanced away from consumption towards investment. This year’s budget penc...
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