ANALYSIS: Unions vs government: There’s a battle royal on the horizon By Stephen Grootes
To judge from the public comments of unionists and some leaders, a confrontation between public sector workers and government is imminent. This has been many years in the making, with successive finance ministers warning about the public sector wage bill for almost a decade.
Finance Minister Tito Mboweni’s announcement in his Budget speech that the government will cut spending on the public sector wage bill by R160-billion over three years was politically dramatic. The night before, the government had sent a letter to unions telling them that it would not be able to afford the increase for workers, scheduled to start from 1 April 2020. This was despite an agreement signed two years ago that mandated the increase.
At the same time, Cosatu’s inner balance has shifted from the private-sector unions, which have declined dramatically, to the public sector unions. This has happened in many other countries too, where the number of private-sector workers who belong to unions has dropped significantly. Now, a discussion about unions on Twitter or talk radio elicits sharp criticism. The public is angry with them, and many see them as holding South Africa back.reported on a Treasury document that showed that the salaries of government workers had risen dramatically over the last decade, unlike those of private-sector workers.
Without this support, Ramaphosa may overnight find his political agenda much more difficult to defend.
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