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The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) is disappointed that the facilitation process seeking an amicable solution to the ongoing public service wage dispute has not yielded positive results. This is a missed opportunity by the government to find an amicable solution and avert a full-blown indefinite strike that will be devastating for the economy and public services. 

We support all our members who are participating in the strike to defend collective bargaining and push back against the current offensive directed at public service employees. 

The current economic trends have unleashed very harsh conditions for the working class, on top of the already severe triple-crises of unemployment, poverty, and inequality.

Public Service employees are being unfairly singled out and targeted with budget cuts even though the wage bill is, in fact, stable and in line with international norms at 35% of the consolidated budget since 2008.  What has changed are the billions that have been lost to corruption, state capture, a mismanaged state economy, load-shedding, cable theft crippling our railway, collapsing basic services, and a stagnant economy. The government is wasting more than R30 billion, annually on consultants, who are unhelpful but deny workers an inflation-related salary adjustment. 

The government needs to negotiate in good faith and find ways to address workers’ legitimate grievances.  Imposing below-inflation increases when workers drowning in debt will plunge them further into crises.  Allowing workers’ wages to be eroded by inflation will fuel the brain drain from the state, of badly needed skilled professionals.

If the government hopes to achieve the objectives outlined in the State of the Nation Address and the Budget, then it needs to fix its relationship with public servants fast.

Workers need to unite and wage a peaceful strike. Public service unions should ensure that they avoid violence and intimidation but campaign for the active participation of the broadest sections of workers and communities in the fight to defend collective bargaining. A successful strike should be based on persuasion and not coercion. 

This is the only way to galvanize and mobilize for sympathy strikes and solidarity actions embracing the widest sections of workers. All revolutionaries should always work to ensure that trade unions become organs of the broad exploited masses. We are calling on workers to unite and intensify the struggle for a decent standard of living.

Issued by COSATU