DUMA GQUBULE: Workers bear brunt as public sector wage cuts seem the easiest way out
The Treasury blames workers for economic crises, but public service employment has not kept up with the rise in population
Whenever there is an economic or financial crisis in SA the first thing lazy analysts do is scapegoat workers for having caused the crisis. Workers, who actually had little to do with creating the crisis, are then asked to be the only ones who must take the pain. This is not fair.
At Eskom, employee benefit expenses declined to 16.5% of revenues in 2020 from 23.6% in 2007. This was the only item on the Eskom income statement that declined over the same period. By comparison, primary energy costs increased 8.6 times between 2007 and 2020. Everyone says Eskom must cut its wage bill. But nobody says what must be done to reduce other costs, which accounted for 97% of revenues in 2020...
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