The Public Servants Affiliation (PSA) has rejected the federal government’s new 7% wage enhance supply pertaining to the 2023/2024 monetary 12 months.
The union, which includes 235 000 staff from Residence Affairs, border posts and different roles, is urgent for a ten% enhance, within the wake of South Africa’s rising value of dwelling.
“The PSA stays resolute on its mandated demand for a ten% enhance. Authorities’s supply doesn’t think about the escalating value of dwelling and doesn’t meet the wants of public servants,” the union stated in an announcement on Wednesday.
The federal government’s revised supply is an enchancment from the 4.7% enhance it beforehand proposed final month, when wage negotiations commenced with public sector unions affiliated with the Federation of Unions of South Africa (Fedusa) at a particular council assembly on the Public Service Co-ordinating Bargaining Council (PSCBC).
The PSA known as on authorities to desk an improved supply, saying that it can not permit for extra delays within the negotiations.
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The federal government can also be making an attempt to rein in spending and considers the nation’s wage invoice, which has breached R700 billion for the present monetary 12 months, unaffordable and as one of many key threats to its fiscal place.
When he tabled his finances for the 2023/2024 monetary 12 months, Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana stated he expects compensation for staff within the make use of of the general public service to succeed in R701.2 billion, surpassing a degree he as soon as thought could be reached in 2025.
Within the earlier monetary 12 months, the federal government spent R690 billion on the wage invoice, which included a further R14.6 billion it spent to fund wage will increase, following its unilateral implementation of a 3% enhance in October final 12 months.
Learn: Public sector pay: Godongwana cautions public servants about trade-offs
