Times Of Swaziland: 2016 SALARY REVIEW APPEALS REPORT: SOME CIVIL SERVANTS TO BENEFIT 7YRS LATER

2016 SALARY REVIEW APPEALS REPORT: SOME CIVIL SERVANTS TO BENEFIT 7YRS LATER
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Stanley Khumalo on 16/02/2023 08:57:00


MANZINI – After six years and eight months, some civil servants, who were made
worse off by the salary review of 2016, will benefit from their appeals.
This follows that, yesterday, the Government Negotiation Team (GNT) presented
the salary review appeals report of 2016. The report was presented to the Public
Sector Unions (PSUs) of Swaziland that represent civil servants not in
management.
The PSUs are: National Association of Public Servants and Allied Workers Union
(NAPSAWU), Swaziland Democratic Nurses Union (SWADNU), Swaziland National
Association of Government Accounts Professionals (SNAGAP) and the Swaziland
National Association of Teachers (SNAT).
Benefit
The report, according to sources, reflected that some civil servants would
benefit; however, the details of the benefits were still subject to
consultations which would ensue in the upcoming joint negotiation forum (JNF).
According to one of the sources, the civil servants who shall benefit from the
appeals would be remunerated in a new pay structure. This pay structure, the
source said, shall accommodate the negative impact the public service workers
endured when their salaries were readjusted through the establishment of
Circular No. 1 of 2016, which was subsequent to a salary review report by LCC
Consultants.
This circular led to a number of grievances from some civil servants being
raised. Among them they claimed that they were made worse off by the awarded
salary review, which saw members of the Judiciary and politicians getting a hike
of 32 per cent in their salaries.
Effected
In 2016, when the salary review report was effected, there were eight grades
which SNAT appealed against. The teachers union bemoaned that their members in
these grades were made worse off. These grades are: B2 Notch 1, which is that of
PTD holders. According to SNAT, this category, which is ordinarily filled by
school leavers, needed to be allocated a new position and government was yet to
create diploma posts so as to be able to correctly place these teachers. They
earn E7 317.43 per month.
Also, there was an appeal against grade C2 Notch 5, which is held by holders of
primary teachers’ certificates. It was said this was despite that an
evaluation of their certificates showed that they weighed equal to PTDs. In this
grade, the teachers currently earn annually, E109 912 which computes to E9
159.33 per month.
Engaged
Another grade is C3 Notch 1, which is held by teachers who have STDs, PTDs and
BA in Humanities. These are teachers who have recently been engaged. They earn
E116 605.27 annually which is E9 717.10 monthly. A further grade that was
appealed against was C4 Notch 1. These are teachers who had degrees but did not
possess any certificate in education such as the post graduate certificate in
education or post graduate diploma in education (PGCE/PGDE). These teachers
include those who did a Bachelor of Sciences (BSc) at the University of
Eswatini.
Currently, they earn E12 299.57 monthly which computes to E147 594.88 annually.
Furthermore, another grade that was adversely affected was C5 Notch 1. These are
teachers who had a Bachelor of Arts (BA) and PGCE/PGDE. Also, among these
teachers are those who possess the Bachelor of Education (B.Ed) Primary, who had
been recently placed in correct posts. Their monthly salary is E14 812.17 which
computes to an annual salary of E177 746.07. The sixth grade affected is D3
Notch 1, which is for newly-promoted deputy head teachers in primary schools and
heads of departments in secondary schools.
This means that newly-promoted deputy head teachers and heads of departments at
primary schools are currently paid E16 675.01, which is E200 100.16 annually.
Furthermore, another grade is D4 Notch 1, which is for newly-promoted deputy
head teachers in secondary schools and newly-engaged head teachers in primary
schools.
These teachers earn E19 176.19 per month and E230 114.36 per year.
The last grade that was highlighted is D5 Notch 1. These are newly-appointed
head teachers in secondary schools. Teachers in this grade earn an annual salary
of E264 632.75 which is equivalent to E22 052.72 monthly.
Following the winning of the appeal by the civil servants, it is yet to be
determined how much they will earn after their pay structure has been
re-aligned.
These teachers and other civil servants, who include court clerks who were
graded B5 after the salary review of 2016, have not been benefitting adequately
in the cost-of-living adjustments (CoLA) effected by government in the past
years. Since the salary review averaging 17 per cent, and was awarded for three
consecutive years in 2016/2017, government started experiencing financial
challenges and did not award any CoLA until 2020/21 and subsequently last year.
In the past two years, the civil servants have been awarded, on two separate
occasions, three per cent CoLA and one per cent once-off of their annual salary.
This, the PSUs secretariat had raised concerned about, stating that their
members were being awarded minimal amounts as they were wrongly remunerated
based on the alleged anomaly their unions raised in the appeals.
Confirmed
Yesterday, Secretary General of SNAT Lot Vilakati confirmed that the JNF had a
sitting; however, he said they were still not certain on whether their members
would benefit or not as they were yet to engage in consultations with government
through bilateral meetings. The sitting of the JNF was also confirmed by the
Principal Secretary (PS) in the Ministry of Public Service Sipho Tsabedze.
The PS said consultations were still to follow next week and once everything had
been agreed upon, the public would get to know what was agreed upon. It is worth
noting that the Minister of Finance, Neal Rijkenberg, in his budget speech,
announced that E65 million was reserved for the civil servants’ salary
appeals.
This was a E20 million decline from the previous allocation which was announced
in 2021.