The Public Service Strike - Setting the record straight For quite some time citizens of our country have been fed a diet of lies about the public service strike. Public Service workers, teachers and nurses in particular, have been disparaged by leaders of both the progressive movement and the opposition the same as insensitive and arrogant workers who were in pursuit of personal gains or interests at the expense of the national interests. Perhaps those who were speaking, even from the corridors of parliament and the union buildings failed to acknowledge the fact that no where in the world can it be acceptable that workers negotiate their salaries for a period of more than six months without progress due to ministerial arrogance and failure to appreciate the worth of such workers.
In actual fact both the Ministers of Public Service and Administration and Basic Education in our country have failed to acknowledge the fact that the current negotiations are not a new process but remain an integral part of the 2007 settlement in Resolution 1 of 2007 of the Public Service Co-ordinating Bargaining Council. That resolution or collective agreement purported a process of investigation or research into the issues of housing, equalisation of medical aid and most importantly key matters regarding the closure of wage gaps in the public service and retention of skills. The latter two issues plus the payment of salary increases effectively on 1 April should never be looked into as trivial matters. The biggest mistake committed by the ministers is not to study documentation at their disposal regarding processes but being too quick to malign workers for defending their provided rights in the Constitution of the country and the Labour Relations Act. Clearly what has not been told by the ministers and their spin doctors is that the country's public servants are worst paid in the world and that research has proven so (which they have atv their disposal). Clearly there is greater arrogance on the part of the ministers because they are seated on the comfort zones with their children getting private education and tuition. It is them who were so quick to condemn the striking workers because this time around their own children were affected when we adopted a resolution to close all schools. They were heart broken because what exalts them and their kids to levels above the majority poor and the downtrodden of our country was threatened. They remained ignorant to the fact that even those so called professional teachers organizations which are not part of the Congress of South African Trade Unions, called their members out to the trenches in defense of the same demands we had placed on the negotiations table. They who went to schools in pretence of working cannot come out today to prove that there was work done there, yet the ministers consider them not to have been on strike. The ministers must go back and verify their facts about the strike and they will realise that in most cases those schools where they allege the strike never had impact, the learners and their parents had been adviced severally that there would not be schooling taking place. It is clear therefore that the agenda is not dealing with the facts around the 2010 public service strike, but to pursue a disinformation agenda as part of a bigger plan to liquidate the progressive teachers union in the main. It is unfortunate however for a senior leader of the African National Congress, the Secretary General, to imply that teachers did not care about the learners in township schools hence they embarked on the strike action while their children continued receiving education in ex model c schools. The Secretary General should have reflected on his own history as a General Secretary of the National Union of Mineworkers and clearly consider if his utterances in our own congress were fair and relevant, or largely misguided attack on the workers. It might be even necessary and quite important for one to take some few moments to reflect on the workers' demands: 1. The 8,6 % increment was adopted after thorough considerations and consultative process with the workforce as a compromise to show good intention and commitment to the bargaining process, especially because the workers firmly believed that this demand remained fair and affordable having started negotiations in October 2009 at 12%. Even the 7,5 % currently signed by the DPSA never came as a wilful offer on the part of the DPSA, but out of the strike action with the workers refusing to accept the lesser percentage increases on offer. We cannot overstate the fact that other workers in the country's economy received more compared the public service workers. The question that remains is whether in the view of government ministers a lot of money must be spent on their personal gains or making their lives easier by splashing monies on expensive cars with extras, spending the country's resources on tenders for family members and friends, or even traveling extensively throughout the world for benefits of the few and well to do in our country? 2. The R1000, 00 housing subsidy is also a process issue that was discussed in the previous three rounds of negotiations, but again the government seems to conveniently forget that the workers in the public service had been receiving the downscaled housing benefit. Comparison can be made of housing subsidies before and after 1994 and we all will come to realize the fact that the workers in the public service have always sacrificed for the best interests of the country hence anyone who claims that these workers are placing their personal interets above the interests of the country are ill-informed. It is important therefore to note that the R800, 00 offer is an improvement on the offer that came out of the strike pressure albeit still not enough. 3. The equalization of medical aid subsidy is yet another important matter that the government of the day has ill-conceived as you really cannot justify why employees with the same job descriptions, experience, qualification and employed by the same employer should be paid differently because the one has chosen a different service provider to the one preferred by the government. What has happened here is that the government simply want to force all public servants to join the Government Employees Medical Scheme and reatreat their right of choice as espoused in the Constitution of the Country. What has also not been proven is that all your public service service employees like Directors General, the Members of Parliament, Directors at various levels of the public service and members of the senior management of all state departments are members of GEMS. If not it cannot be acceptable therefore that we harass those that are occupying the lower levels of employment in the state departments without re-looking the status of those who occupy higher positions. 4. Payment of salary increases on 1 April each year is yet another unfortunate loss on the part of the workers since it can only be achieved after a three years period and justifies nothing about workers being granted a 9 months benefit while employed for 12 months. This should never be considered and intepreted as a process but as a deliberate postponement of the struggle to close the wage gaps and offer quality benefits to all workers of our country, especially workers in the public service. 5. A call for a single term agreement was to ensure that there is consistent engagement on the terms and consitions of employment of the public service workers without being dogmatic about these issues and ensuring that the economic status of these workers is sustained at the level of the economic demands of the country. It is also important to note that the earnings are always less than the market values of things in the country. There are price hikes in everything, including medical expenses to an extent that members funds are depleted before the end of the year, petrol prices are also increases from time to time, public transport is becoming expensive from time to time, while education itself becomes expensive without warning. In an economic environment where these issues are realistic and existent, we cannot afford to lock workers in multi-term agreements. As we can realize from the above, there is nothing to report home about in the outcome of the Public Service Co-ordinating Bargaining Council, except that the workers remain the losers and that the misniters remain arrogant without justification, especially when we consider the facts around making education and health top government priorities. We cannot continue making priorities but failing to fund them. How many unnecessary management positions have been created in the provincial administrations of education which are truly unjustified and unnecessary? How many posts in the public service remain duplication of other positions with exorbitant salaries when there is a claim that the country doesn't have money? While it may be true that we dont have enough money to deliver all services at the same time, it must be thoroughly considered that no amount of political and policy rhetoric can sustain any life. It is important to note further that the failure to pay any worker well results in despondency and lack of confidence hence the level of worker morale is seen in the output of such workers. No self respecting employer can justify not paying their employees well as part of sustaining the quality of results or proceeds in any economic circumstance. It is therefore important that even as we start a new negotiations process or season, workers must consciously call for the dissolution of the Public Service Co-ordinating Bargaining Council as there will always be unintended consequences or outcomes when various interets are packaged in a single process. It is equally important to note that part of the unintended consequences will be the failure to attain the most supreme of the goals of COSATU (One Country One Federation - One Sector One Union) as this will always remain in the shadows of competition for public space and dominance. Clearly the PSCBC can only be relevant to that situation where we have a single trade union in the public service. No claim can be made therefore contrary to the fact that workers in the Public Service have lost a great deal.... The Struggle Continues!!! Paul Mbhele 0824653810 ________________________________ From: Dominic.Tweedie <[email protected]> To: [email protected] Sent: Thu, October 14, 2010 9:08:33 PM Subject: [YCLSA Discussion] Report of 3rd ANC NGC Comrades, Please find attached the 556 KB PDF file of the 80-page Report of the 3rd ANC NGC, including resolutions. Sorry for the large attachment. Please consider it an exception. People have been asking for this, and for once attachment seems to be the most practical application. Best, VC -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] . -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. 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