WAGE NEGOTIATIONS
CAROL PATON: Battle of salaries and ceilings puts state finances under stress
Faith Muthambi will need to clear up her number trouble quickly to save SA from another disastrous round of wage negotiations
The anecdotal signs have been alarming: a month or so ago, admin employees of the Gauteng health department found themselves rudely unseated when the sheriff of the court seized their desks, chairs and office equipment; doctors in KwaZulu-Natal marched on the streets after the health department cut the number of specialists in training from 700 to 200; and teachers in KwaZulu-Natal and Limpopo complained that numerous poor schools had received less than half the government funding they had been expecting. These are signs of stress in government finances last seen back in the mid-to late ’90s. The departments most overstretched have something in common: all employ large numbers of people and salaries make up more than half of their spending. The anecdotes are backed by the numbers. The budgets of personnel-intensive departments are on a deteriorating path.At the end of the financial year 2016-17, provincial health and education departments carried over a bigger portion of unpaid bill...
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