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UNIONS PUSHBACK: GOVT WAS FIRST TO VIOLATE JNF

25/09/2017 08:52:00 BY STANLEY KHUMALO

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MBABANE – “We were violated!”

Public Sector Associations (PSAs) have claimed to be the ones violated by government amid a statement issued by the Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Public Service, Evart Madlopha.
Madlopha, in a press statement he released last week, said PSAs had violated the Joint Negotiation Forum (JNF) agreements in that they discussed the ongoing cost of living negotiations in another forum other than the negotiation table.
To this, the PSAs have flipped the coin and said government was first to engage the issues that were still on the negotiating table in other forums disregarding the stipulation of the JNF Constitution, which governs matters of the forum.
The associations further noted that in the first weekend of September, the Minister of Public Service, Owen Nxumalo, propagated a statement addressing the subject in the media.

They said preceding that, the minister had in parliament said: “Public servants were still enjoying the effects of the salary review.”
“The minister, who is part of the principals of the GNT, was clearly engaging on the cost of living adjustment matter in a forum outside of the JNF. By this action the minister made it clear that he was was open to engagement with our principals. Our principals were only coming to the minister on September 20, 2017 as a continuation of the engagement initiated by the minister in the media.”
PSAs constitute the Swaziland Nurses Association (SNA), Swaziland National Association of Government Accounting Personnel (SNAGAP), National Public Service and Allied Workers Union (NAPSAWU) and the Swaziland National Association of Teachers (SNAT).

In a joint statement, the associations expressed agitation in the manner the press statement purported to portray them as irresponsible people by conducting themselves in a manner not consistent with the agreement they entered into with the employer.
Madlopha on Thursday said PSAs held a march on the cost of living adjustment yet the matter was still pending before the JNF. The associations denounced the act by government to release a press statement last week Friday citing that the PS had rushed to the events of September 20, 2017 and while he conveniently left out the conduct of the Government Negotiating Team (GNT) from November 2016 when they engaged on the salary review.
To this, the PSAs said: “For Mr Madlopha to suggest that the march of September 20, 2017 made it impossible to continue with negotiations is spurious and disingenuous to say the least. Negotiations have been held numerous times with protests ongoing outside the ministry.”