Administration in the National Assembly on wage negotiations
30 May 2007
Madam Speaker
Thank you for affording me the opportunity to make a statement on the
current wage negotiations.
Let me start by taking us back to 1994 when we first gathered in this House
as representatives of a democratic dispensation. One of our first tasks was to
forge a public service able to serve the needs of a democracy � a democracy
facing the challenges of serving a widely disparate society, with extreme
inequity � where services had been offered to the privileged few and denied to
the disadvantaged majority.
The challenge was not only to provide services within an established
structure, but was far more complex � the public service was faced with the
challenge of acting as agents of change and transformation, while being
transformed and reformed itself - a challenge and obligation that we were later
to codify in our Constitution, which, in Chapter 10 speaks of the values that
must underlie, and mandates the developmental role which must characterise our
public service.
Thirteen years later the challenge of building a public service that has the
capability to deliver to the needs of the developmental state is still with us
� as we strive to consolidate the transformation and build on the considerable
advances we have made since we embarked on our transformation project.
You may wonder what this has to do with the topic at hand. In one word,
everything. The conditions of service for our cadre of public servants are
central to the building of a skilled, dedicated and innovative public service.
This must be our starting point when we consider the conditions of service for
our public servants. Public servants must be properly rewarded for their
labour, their skills, their performance and their dedication. We must have the
framework in place to attract and retain the best and brightest of our labour
pool. Our public servants must work in conditions that are conducive to good
performance - receiving payment that recognises their worth in line with market
conditions. And with opportunities for advancement and career development.
The general welfare of public servants is a prime consideration. As employer
we have the responsibility to ensure that these benefits in areas such as
pension provision and healthcare are available to ensure a healthy workforce
and retirement free of insecurity. We must be vigilant that these provisions
are not eroded though short term expediency, such as higher salaries at the
expense of longer term security and broader conditions of service. Those who
labour under particular conditions, such as on weekends or at night must
receive proper compensation for the toll this takes on their personal
lives.
The state must balance what it spends on wages and benefits with what it
spends on the goods and services it provides to the populace. This is
particularly important considering that the developmental character of our
state requires that we consider the longer term implication of this expenditure
on the lives of the disadvantaged and needy, as we seek to fulfil their
justified aspirations to a better life.
Our offer seeks to ensure that the buying power of public servants is not
eroded through inflation � that the general wellbeing of public servants is
addressed through provision of appropriate medical aid and housing allowances �
and that in certain special categories non-pensionable allowances are
adjusted.
In addition we put on the table a new dispensation for professionals and
specialists in order to ensure that we are able to attract people with these
skills to the public service and ensure that their careers are developed within
the service in order that we retain them.
Madam Speaker
Much is made of the low levels of pay of public servants, but it is
important to note, that between 1997 and 2006, employees on salary levels 1-8
received a real increase, over and above inflation. Level one � unskilled
general workers- received a real increase - after inflation is taken into
account) � of 13,3 percent. We do however recognise, that levels 9 to 12 �
which includes those in the professional categories - received a below
inflation increase over this period and it is this that we want to address.
Since 2002 there has been a real increase (above inflation) at the higher
levels, but we want to move forward much more dramatically with a proposed new
structure.
I will not go into lots of numbers but I would just like to point out some
detail of the earnings of our public officials. The lowest level worker in the
public service currently earns R35 916 per annum. Including the macro benefits
(medical, pensions, service bonus and housing) the total package of on this
level would be R71 850. The macro benefits therefore constitute more than 50%
of the package. With a hypothetical 6% salary adjustment, the minimum salary
will be R38 070 and the total package will be R75 940. I leave you to draw your
own conclusions, bearing in mind that this is the salary that a general worker,
for instance a cleaner, earns in the public service.
To give further detail with regard to the new salary structure our key focus
over the next few years will be to develop and implement occupation specific
dispensations with the aim to improve the Public Service's ability to attract
and retain skilled employees.
The biggest challenge encountered in the Public Service is to adequately
remunerate the diverse categories of employees by means of a single salary
scale. This is further aggravated by the current lack of appropriate
progression and promotion opportunities in certain occupations. It is therefore
accepted that in a number of occupations salaries are generally not competitive
for the more skilled and experienced employees.
To address these challenges, the introduction of the occupation specific
dispensations will be developed and implemented for identified occupational
categories. This will entail introducing unique salary structures per
occupation, including grading structures and job profiles, as well as
progression and career pathing opportunities based on competencies, experience
and performance.
Madam Speaker,
The House is well aware that Labour originally tabled demands which were
impossible for the state to meet. They would have added R200 billion to the
wage bill in the first year of implementation, more than doubling the current
wage bill. Clearly we were a long way apart.
The House is also aware that over the last two days, at the request of the
employer, the parties reconvened to discuss a way forward. The purpose of this
meeting was to find a way of coming together and to this end a technical
working group with representatives from each side sat through Monday night and
came back with a working document. Discussions around this continued yesterday,
and I am happy to announce that in the last few minutes moment council is
convening to discuss this as a working document and as an official document on
the table in the bargaining chamber. This is a major breakthrough, and while
much work still needs to be done, we can now start charting our way
forward.
The objectives of this document are:
* to provide a basis for the general salary adjustments for employees for
the forthcoming years
* to introduce revised salary structures for specific occupations in the
professional area, catering for career pathing, pay progression, grade
progression, seniority, increased competencies and performance, with a view to
attracting and retaining professionals and specialists. This covers educators,
health professionals, legal professionals amongst others and will ultimately
reach 80% of the public service
* to replace the existing Scarce Skills Framework for the public service with
the introduction of the revised salary structures
* to review the non-pensionable allowances
* to deal with certain leave matters
* to provide for the adjustment of the medical aid subsidy
* to provide for the alignment of the public service with the requirements of
the Basic Conditions of Employment Act 1997
* to provide for processes to review certain existing terms and conditions of
employment.
Labour has agreed to consider this proposal in its entirety, while
negotiating certain aspects within the proposal. Agreement has been reached on
the larger part of this proposal, with exceptions amongst others being the
level of the salary increase, the conditions relating to medical aid and pay
progression for those who will remain outside the new pay framework for
professionals and other specialists. We consider this a major advance. We have
collectively moved from a deadlock situation, to one in which we are able to
negotiate on the future nature of the public service.
Madam Speaker,
I would like to use my remaining time to give a little detail to our
proposal for the occupation specific salary structures, developed to attract
and retain certain employees. This structure will enable us to address the
current 'one size fits all' approach which we use to remunerate a wide range of
occupation categories. Much is made of the poor conditions under which such
professionals � for example educators and nurses � work and we recognise the
need for their salaries to be revised. This system will recognise the unique
skills and experience of such categories. It will offer a unique salary
structure per occupation with centrally determined grading structures and broad
job profiles.
No longer will professionals reach a plateau early on in their careers �
often the cause of their departing from their chosen occupation or from public
service � but they will now have career pathing opportunities based on
competencies, experience and performance. The system will cater for pay
progression within the salary level and certain current benefits and allowances
will be incorporated into their salaries. We will, where appropriate, align
salaries to the market, enhancing the public service as an employer of
choice.
We are proposing to implement the new structure for nurses with effect from
1 July 2007. Certain categories of nurses with ten years or longer experience
stand to earn a very significant increase in the area of 50 percent. Legal
professionals within the justice cluster will become eligible from July 2007,
educators will be included from 1 January 2008 and social workers engineers and
architects from July 2008, followed by correctional officials,
environmentalists and other identified professionals in July 2009.
Other professionals in these sectors are also catered for, and the detail is
available.
The negotiations related to each of these occupations will be dealt with at
the relevant sectoral bargaining council, but these professionals can rest
assured that they will see very significant increases. These negotiations are
not only about a percentage increase, but about a change in the nature of the
Public Service, where those who work hard and have skills and experience will
be recognised and rewarded.
Provisions for the roll out of the housing allowance are also on the table
and represent very significant assistance particularly to the lower levels of
workers. We also agree to undertake a comprehensive review of the current
housing allowance and undertake to complete this and negotiate the
recommendations by July 2008.
The employer also recognises the need to reward improvement in
qualifications that are job related and will enhance performance and service
delivery � as well as the need to revise the existing long service award, in
order to retain skills and reward loyalty.
Madam Speaker
While these provisions often pale against the heat generated by the debate
on percentages, it is these benefits that make an organisation an employer of
choice.
It was that great revolutionary, leader and thinker V I Lenin, who coined
the term 'Economism' to describe certain groupings in the terrain of social
change, who sought to reduce the needs of the workers to the mere monetary,
ignoring the long term needs and aspirations of those who toil for their
salary.
"If the economic struggle is taken as something complete in itself, he
wrote, there will be nothing socialist in it."
I am happy that we have moved from such positioning in our negotiations and
that we can now face the challenge of shaping our public service so that it is
both able to cater for the needs of its employees and the needs of our
nation.
For further information, please contact:
Lewis Rabkin
Cell: 082 497 3220
Issued by: Ministry of Public Service and Administration
30 May 2007
