Defend Truth

Opinionista

What about the workers? The public sector wage agreement was signed without grassroots consultation

mm

Mzikazi Nkata is a forensic pathology officer, member of the National Union of Public Sector and Allied Workers and local secretary of the South African Federation of Trade Unions, Saftu.

Where did these unions get the mandate to accept this offer? Are unions not supposed to be worker-controlled? All signs point to worker control being little more than a fallacy if unions sign life-changing agreements without a mandate from their members.

Early this year, as the Gqeberha local of the South African Federation of Trade Unions, we issued a statement on the war against the working class that has been burgeoning and beginning to show its explicit face during this pandemic. As the Department of Health (and Department of Education) we are heavily understaffed. All of the posts previously filled by our colleagues who have died before and during the Covid-19 pandemic remain vacant.

Adding insult to injury, on the morning of 27 July 2021 we woke up to the news that more than 50% of the public sector unions at the public sector bargaining council, except for the National Education Health and Allied Workers Union (Nehawu), South African Police Union (Sapu), and the Police and Prison Civil Rights Union (Popcru), have accepted the pay progression of 1.5% and the gratuity allowance as an increase.

The question remains: where did these unions get the mandate to accept this offer when many of their members are surprised, angry and disdain this? Are unions not supposed to be worker-controlled? What really happened to the notion of worker control? Has worker control become a practical fallacy, when unions are going to sign life-changing agreements without consent or a mandate from their members?

As a result of the latest capitulation of some of the public sector unions to the pressure of the state, we have seen many workers reacting with shock and a great feeling of betrayal.

It is important to note that, usually, the public sector agrees to a three-year wage agreement with the government. However, the current agreement is only for one year, ending 31 March 2022. This, conveniently for the government, comes to an end after the local government elections.

After this, we will see the reversion back to austerity policies that have been implemented by the South African government. These include the reduction in government spending, comprising cuts to essential services and the public sector wage bill. A former Treasury official has gone so far as to say that these are the biggest budget cuts in post-apartheid South Africa.

Research has shown that the massive cuts proposed for the public sector wage bill will result in a decline in the number of public sector workers. This is something the country cannot afford. Not only will this mean bigger student-to-teacher ratios and a further understaffed public health sector, leading to the further collapse of social services, it will also mean greater levels of unemployment. As we have said before, the budget cuts and the attack on the public sector will lead to greater levels of joblessness and deepening inequalities.

We have long argued that there are alternatives.

As communities of the working class, we must not succumb to the argument that there is no money. There is money. Here are just some examples; there are many others.

  • There is a plethora of evidence that the introduction of a progressive net wealth tax of between 3% and 7% could raise up to R165-billion per annum;
  • We have been calling on the government to put a stop to corporate corruption by combating profit shifting that is costing the South African economy and workers more than R300-billion;
  • Insourcing procurement — currently 40% of the government’s R800-billion procurement budget is lost to fraud and inflated prices relating to contracts with the private sector; and
  • The need to put an end to the tens of billions of rands lost to corruption and wasteful expenditure.

It is also important to highlight the importance of the Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF). The GEPF has just less than R2-trillion in accumulated reserves. Every month workers are contributing 6% of their salaries to the pension fund and the government makes a contribution as well. Implementing a pension fund contribution holiday could be one measure to increase workers’ disposable income.

The government can use the GEPF further by borrowing from it at below-market interest rates. This will have several important advantages. Fundamentally, it will mean the government can consolidate its debt problem (the main argument behind the government’s austerity agenda), ensuring greater levels of resources for social spending and investment into infrastructure and job-creating programmes.

In addition to decent wage increases and reversing the budget cuts on social services, we have also argued that the Eastern Cape provincial government must permanently employ all community health workers in line with resolution 1 of 2018. This was intended to ensure that it matches resources to real needs. We further argued that if the Eastern Cape provincial government was serious about zero-based budgeting it would clean up the personnel and salaries management system (Persal), removing people on retirement or who have died long before and during the pandemic who are still reflected in establishment posts and budgets. This will make space to grant permanency and even hire new staff.

As frontline health workers, community health workers, educators, Covid-19 contract workers and many other public sector workers, we have worked at the frontline, protecting patients and staff with comorbidities. Despite our hard work as frontline workers, risking our lives in the fight against Covid-19, we are being thrown to the dogs with the excuse being that there is no money.

Yet, as we have shown, there are concrete arguments that workers are advancing that there is no reason for our leaders to succumb to the “we have no money” mantra. DM

Gallery

"Information pertaining to Covid-19, vaccines, how to control the spread of the virus and potential treatments is ever-changing. Under the South African Disaster Management Act Regulation 11(5)(c) it is prohibited to publish information through any medium with the intention to deceive people on government measures to address COVID-19. We are therefore disabling the comment section on this article in order to protect both the commenting member and ourselves from potential liability. Should you have additional information that you think we should know, please email [email protected]"

Comments - Please in order to comment.

  • Chris Hill says:

    Mzikazi Nkata is obviously well educated but needs to do a course in modern economics.

  • Camille Augustus says:

    Our union consulted us before accepting the offer, thus our input was considered. Please also leave my pension alone. Taking from tomorrow to make things easier today will simply compound future problems.

  • Gerrit Marais says:

    Well you are a unionist so we cannot accept much else from you but really? When last did you try and get service from any government department? Their poor performance is not due to limited resources, but sheer laziness and not understanding that they are there to deliver a service. They are not doing me a favour. And of course, being in the civil service means your job is basically guaranteed, regardless of your performance. Time for goverment to get out of the way and allow others to do the work. Just look at what Gift of the Givers and Solidarity have achieved.

  • Miles Japhet says:

    There is no war against workers. Having a job is a privilege and doing it productively is a minimum requirement. There are many hard working selfless members of the Healthcare and other sectors, however they are sadly let down by corrupt and /or incompetent management much of this a consequence of BEE.
    Employ fewer better qualified and productive workers and the tax payer can afford to pay more.
    By the way, taxing the rich more when they are already amongst the highest tax payers in the world, particularly as they pay twice for education, healthcare, security, water , electricity etc, will merely kill the golden goose as they leave for countries where they are seen as part of the solution and not part of the problem!!

Please peer review 3 community comments before your comment can be posted

Become a Maverick Insider

This could have been a paywall

On another site this would have been a paywall. Maverick Insider keeps our content free for all.

Become an Insider

Every seed of hope will one day sprout.

South African citizens throughout the country are standing up for our human rights. Stay informed, connected and inspired by our weekly FREE Maverick Citizen newsletter.