Civil service strike on the cards

Effective governance, state administration and the provision of public services could be paralysed in a month’s time if up to 1.3 million public servants go on strike. The odds of strike action increased dramatically last Friday when unions affiliated to the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) and the Independent Labour Caucus (ILC), together representing 14 unions, declared a dispute with the state over stalled wage negotiations.

A facilitation process has now been started and accredited panellists were to be appointed on Monday. If the facilitation process fails, a strike will start 30 days from now.

Trade union representatives say the state’s “intransigence” over labour’s pay demands is to blame for the current situation.

When wage negotiations began in April, labour demanded an 11% general salary adjustment, a housing allowance of R1 650 a month as well as an equal employer subsidy for members of medical schemes other than the Government Employees Medical Scheme.

The state, however, had proposed a general increase of 6.5% and an increase in the housing allowance from R500 to R620 a month.

Labour replied to this by downscaling its demands to an 8.6% general salary increase and a housing allowance of R1 000 a month.

Despite this, negotiations deadlocked and on Friday, the unions declared a dispute. Labour’s negotiators said public service employees have been battling to meet the high costs of transport due to high fuel prices, the increases in municipal rates and taxes, and the spiralling cost of Eskom electricity. The unions claim that the state caused the deadlock by constantly using "stalling tactics" during negotiations.

The state, on the other hand, alleges the unions used the Fifa Soccer World Cup to try and blackmail it into submission.

Should the strike go ahead, it is not quite clear what its overall impact will be. Apart from paralysing the public service, some economists believe it will have no impact on the economy other than an “inconvenience factor”.

Others, however, believe the knock-on effect from the unavailability of services could have serious indirect consequences for the economy.

There could also be a political price to pay, as such a strike will put pressure on the government of President Jacob Zuma, which already finds itself between a rock and a hard place.

While Cosatu is the ANC’s junior partner in the governing alliance, the ANC government is being held to ransom by its own partner to impose economic measures on the state which may arguably be detrimental.

As pointed out with the recent threat of a strike at Eskom and other parastatals, this unholy situation is tantamount to Cosatu holding the ANC’s hand while forcing it to shoot itself in the foot.

With the ANC-led ruling Alliance already under immense pressure at present on the political front, any added pressure on the labour front at this stage will certainly up the stakes, putting the future of the Alliance even further in jeopardy.