CLAIRE BISSEKER: Government can’t afford to blink in wage talks
With SA’s fiscal credibility at stake, it is unfortunate that the impression has been created that the government has caved in during the public sector wage talks, by offering workers a 1.5% increase.Actually, the truth is the reverse: it is standing firm in demanding a three-year wage freeze — the centrepiece of its commitment to cut medium-term spending by R265bn to stabilise the debt ratio. The only new sweetener offered is a R987 monthly cash gratuity to all workers, which amounts to about R15bn in the 2021 fiscal year.And, we are told, this sweetener will be financed in a fiscally neutral manner through expenditure reprioritisation. In other words, this R15bn has been sanctioned by the National Treasury, which will find the money in such a way so as not to increase SA’s overall funding envelope, or worsen the deficit.Of course, if this carrot comes at the expense of growth-enhancing spending (like building roads and other infrastructure), this would be somewhat regressive. But ...
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