The Constitutional Court on Monday dismissed an application for leave to appeal a 2018 public sector salary ruling. The Labour Court previously ruled that the government did not have to abide by the multi-year deal. This after the government had argued that it could not afford salary increases and took the matter to court.
The apex court has now ruled that the 2018 multi-term collective agreement, concluded at the public sector coordinating bargaining council between public sector unions and government, is null and void.
The National Professional Teachers Organisation of South Africa (Naptosa) expressed its “shock” at the Constitutional Court’s judgment that government was within its rights not to implement the third leg of the agreement to raise public servants’ salaries from April 2022.
“While we are unhappy with the outcome of the judgment, we are nevertheless glad that it came before the collective bargaining summit which will take place from 28 to 30 March 2022. The issue of trust is sure to dominate proceedings at the summit,” said Naptosa executive director Basil Manuel.
“What Naptosa finds frustrating is that although the employer argued the non-implementation of the salary increase on a mandating technicality, we all know that it stems from a National Treasury austerity approach,” said Manuel.
“The minister of finance, in comments to the press, attributed the ‘unacceptable’ size of the public service wage bill to above-inflation salary increases over a number of years. This is astonishing because it purports that the employer did not play any role in this.
“Or is the minister arguing that those increases [which we dispute were excessive] were also not properly mandated on the employer side.”
Manuel added that the employer’s conduct flew in the face of good bargaining, thereby dealing a severe blow to the relationship Naptosa had already natured with the employer.
“We will go to the public servants’ summit with new energy to ensure that public servants and teachers are treated more fairly. We cannot accept that it is a given that public servants don’t deserve better.”
“This is a sad day, not only for public servants, but also for collective bargaining.”
Follow @SundayWorldZA on Twitter and @sundayworldza on Instagram, or like our Facebook Page, Sunday World, by clicking here for the latest breaking news in South Africa. To Subscribe to Sunday World, click here.
