South Africa’s Trade Union Federation, FEDUSA has accused high-earning Government officials of living lavishly while Public Servants battled to keep up with the high costs of living.
Public Service workers are currently locked in a bitter battle with the Government amid calls for wage increases to keep in line with inflation.
Workers affiliated to Fedusa, including the Public Servants’ Association, want a 10 per cent increase.
However, the Government has offered only three per cent.
General Secretary of FEDUSA, Reifda Ajam said the wage disparity between Government executives and Public Servants was an injustice.
“Let’s take a look at a three per cent increase on somebody at a lower level who may be earning, for example, R6,000 ($A519) a month,” Ms Ajam (pictured) said.
“How do you compare that with an official whose salary on an executive level is over the R1.8 million ($A160,000) mark?”
She said the future of collective bargaining in the labour sector was under threat, following the latest collapse in wage negotiations.
Workers have called for a fresh round of negotiations following a one-day ‘warning strike’, but the Government said it would reopen talks only for the 2023-24 cycle.
Ms Ajam said the Government’s plan to unilaterally implement its three per cent wage offer set a bad precedent.
“Collective bargaining has been eroded and Public Servants are expected to just take the tail end of what has been handed out to them,” she said.
“It is unacceptable.”
Johannesburg, 16 November 2022
