The South African Police Service (SAPS) management has been made aware of the Popcru march which is planned for Thursday, 29 August 2013.
It is understood that the strike action has been initiated by Popcru to underline its dissatisfaction, in the main, of the supposed non-implementation of the 2011 Safety and Security Sectoral Bargaining Council Agreement (SSSBC).
A letter in response to a memorandum submitted to the provincial commissioners on 29 and 30 May 2013 and again on 7 June 2013 has outlined in detail the progress made and SAPS management’s commitment to implement the 2011 SSSBC agreement.
"It is rather disappointing that Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) has yet again chosen the strike action route as opposed to continuing with the negotiations and correctly informing its members about the good progress made. Contrary to the statement made by Popcru, management has implemented the relevant agreement. Steps are planned to address the remaining factors.
With regard to the Department of Public Service and Administration's approval of the upgrading of the posts of certain clerks, it was proposed that the SAPS should manage the implementation of the re-grading according to the availability of funds.
The employer is not unwilling to implement the directive, but unfortunately the directive came after the budgetary process had been finalized. To this end the SAPS has submitted a request to National Treasury for additional funding during the coming budgetary process.
On the matter of incorporating the Public Service Act (PSA) personnel as a category into the SAPS Act, the SAPS fully support this request. However, in order to have this realised, certain departments and Ministries have to concur with the incorporation and the SAPS Act has to be amended to accommodate this change.
The review of the SAPS Act is about to commence, and an input in this regard will be sent to the drafters of the legislation for consideration.
On the upgrading of all PSA personnel form salary level 1 and 2, the employer wishes to point out that this is a new demand which POPCRU did not table in previous negotiations. Therefore, POPCRU is urged to follow the Bargaining Council’s procedures in order to have the matter addressed as the upgrading does not form part of the DPSA directive.
In terms of the Labour Relations Act, the employer is not obliged to remunerate the employee for services the employee does not render during a strike. Therefore, Public Service Act personnel who are supposed to be on duty and rendering services, but are absent to partake in the march, will be regarded as participating in an unprotected strike action, and the SAPS management will apply prescripts governing such actions.
The SAPS management wishes to state that the issue of upgrading PSA personnel form salary level 1 and 2 is a new demand which the union never tabled at the SSSBC for negotiations. Therefore, the SAPS management urges the union to follow the correct procedure so that the matter can be attended to.
We have noted that the participation of personnel in the previous strike had minimal impact on service delivery, and the SAPS management calls upon PSA personnel to again put service delivery first. This has demonstrated that our employees are committed to their work and are not easily derailed.
In the meantime, the march will be attended to in two ways. Firstly, the SAPS management has implemented contingency plans to ensure that service delivery is not compromised in any way. Secondly, the march will be closely monitored by our Public Order Policing Unit to ensure that it will take place in a peaceful manner.
Media enquiries:
Lieutenant General Solomon Makgale
Cell: 082 778 3718
