union negotiator
4 December 2006
1. There is really no basis for the South African Democratic Teachers' Union
(SADTU) to make such misinformed and inflammatory statements. According to the
settlement agreement, which SADTU signed, Free State, Western Cape and the
Northern Cape had to make payments for salary progression by July 2006. This
has been done.
2. The provinces of Mpumalanga, Gauteng, North West and KwaZulu Natal have
until 31 December 2006 to effect payment. KwaZulu Natal and Gauteng have
implemented in October 2006, and the others are on track to meet these
obligations.
3. Limpopo Province and Eastern Cape have until 31 March 2007 to comply, and
there is no reason to doubt they will not do so. Therefore all the terms of the
agreement have been fulfilled by the Department.
4. It must be noted that accelerated progression can only be paid after an
evaluation, and is paid only to educators with a rating of "good" or higher.
All educators do not qualify for this additional benefit.
5. Further to this, at the meetings of 28 November 2006 and 1 December 2006,
representatives of the Department requested information on those educators who
were due to be paid but had not been paid in terms of the agreement.
6. None of the unions present was able to provide this information.
7. The Department of Education is ready to address the non-payment of
educators if the relevant details are provided. The reasons could be that
educators do not qualify or there has been an omission. Each educator's
situation is addressed individually to ensure that the correct implementation
is applied.
8. With regard to post provisioning and workloads, parties were to finalise
arrangements for national workshops. On 7 November 2006, the Department of
Education invited the union leadership to a presentation on post provisioning,
dealing with both class size and workloads. However owing to the non-attendance
of union leaders, the Department was unable to obtain feedback and hence
required a deferment of the follow-up meeting. In this case, "crass
inefficiency" was shown by the unions, not the Department of Education.
Enquiries:
Lunga Ngqengelele
Tel: (012) 312 5538
Cell: 082 566 0446
E-mail: ngqengelele.l@doe.gov.za
Issued by: Department of Education
4 December 2006
Source: SAPA
