Civil service wage deal under threat
By LYNLEY DONNELLY —
Public sector unions have pulled out of the hard-won 2015 wage agreement that was announced in May over a disputed clawback that the government has instituted.
Frikkie de Bruin, general secretary of the Public Service Co-ordinating Bargaining Council, said on Thursday that labour had withdrawn from the agreement. The adjustment, which has infuriated unions, will in effect reduce the recently settled wage increase for 2015 to 6.4%, instead of the original 7%. The bargaining council is in the process of obtaining a legal opinion on whether government is within its rights to claim back money it argues was overpaid under the previous wage agreement, which expired in March.
The dispute threatens to ruin a hard-won settlement, achieved in an environment where government is under pressure to rein in costs amid deteriorating labour relations that saw protracted strikes in the private sector last year.
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