PSUS GIVE GOVT’S 1% ‘X-MAS GIFT’ THUMBS-UP

MBABANE – Civil servants have something to smile about as this year, they have been awarded a 5 per cent cost-of-living adjustment (CoLA).

The 5 per cent is the first in recent years to be awarded to public service employees after negotiations in the Joint Negotiation Forum (JNF) were concluded by the Government Negotiation Team and the Public Sector Union (PSUs). This is because in previous years, civil servants were awarded 3 per cent CoLA and a once-off 1 per cent of their annual salary.
However, in this financial year, civil servants, through their unions, on July 3, 2024, appended a collective agreement, which awarded them 4 per cent CoLA, backdated to April 1, 2024.
This collective agreement has had a follow-up, which is the once-off 1 per cent of their annual salary, which was appended in the presence of the media by the PSUs and Government Negotiation Team (GNT) yesterday at 1:10pm.

Package

The once-off 1 per cent of the civil servants’ annual salary is, according to the Swaziland National Association of Teachers (SNAT) Secretary General, Lot Vilakati, a package and or spill-over of the 2024/25 CoLA negotiations. Vilakati explained that PSUs had made a final demand of 7.2 per cent, whereupon the employer (government) tabled 3 per cent. After lengthy negotiations, he said, the parties agreed on 4 per cent CoLA, which was appended four months ago, with a consideration on the side of the GNT to have a sweetener of 0.5 per cent across the board, pending approval of the mandate givers/principals (Cabinet).  He said yesterday, the GNT reported that the Cabinet had approved a 1 per cent once-off sweetener in addition to the 4 per cent CoLA that was awarded in July 2024.

Negotiation

Acting Chairperson of the JNF Bertram Stewart, yesterday said following the negotiation for the ‘sweetener’ by PSUs, the GNT had consulted on the affordability of the once-off 1 per cent of civil servants’ annual salary and it was concluded yesterday that the employer could afford it. He said: “The once-off 1 per cent of civil servants’ annual salary shall be paid only in December 2024. We want to also emphasise that this shall not be a norm that public service employees are awarded it every December. In this instance, it was an item that was concluded when CoLA was awarded in July.” Stewart explained that the once-off 1 per cent of civil servants’ annual salary shall be calculated based on the government annual year, which begins on April – March 31 of each calendar year.

He also explained the once-off 1 per cent of public service workers’ annual salary shall be calculated along with the effected increment of 4 per cent, which was announced in July.
His sentiments were appreciated and emphasised upon by the PSUs, through the Swaziland Democratic Nurses Union (SWADNU) President, Nokuthula Dlamini. She said: “During the JNF, we’ve agreed on a once-off 1 per cent of the annual salary. We are happy that government came with a positive response today (yesterday) that they were able to source the ‘sweetener’. Government did something we were not expecting, as they had taken long to revert with a response. We are glad that the signing of the collective agreement depicts the honesty in the employer’s negotiations.”

Subsequent to her remarks, in jest, the acting chairperson of the JNF appealed to the house to offer a round of applause to the employer, which the PSUs and GNT responded to positively.
The appreciation of the conclusion of the negotiations on this agenda item was followed by the signing of the collective agreement, where representatives of both parties appended the agreement. Noticeably was that the SNAT President, Mbongwa Dlamini, was not present at the JNF, but he was represented by the SNAT Editor, Mcolisi Motsa, who appended the collective agreement on his behalf.

PSUs represent about 21 535 public service workers, based on their four unions’ membership updates, while the employer was represented by the GNT. The civil servants, represented by the PSUs, are a fraction of the 42 686 public service workers, while the difference is characterised as un-unionisable employees. These include senior government officials, politicians and members of the State security forces. The PSUs last week presented their position paper where they supported their demand of 7.27 per cent by stating that the country had a 3.1 per cent growth of the economy in the past year and that inflation was standing at 4.1 per cent. They claimed that they had been receiving salary adjustments which were always far below the true inflation in previous years.

As a result, they said the salaries of workers had continued to be eroded due to the low yearly offers for CoLA made by the employer. They had bemoaned that government was supposed to implement the salary review in 2021, as per the July 6, 2016 order of the court, but that had not happened to date, causing the workers to suffer more. The unions had said the employer received a larger chunk from the Southern African Customs Union (SACU), which in their understanding, could fund CoLA. On the other hand, the employer said the wage bill was about E9 billion and based on this, they could only afford 3 per cent. The GNT submitted, through a position paper, that the wage bill remained the largest component of the budget at 34 per cent of total expenditures.The employer said the wage bill was 10.4 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP).

It was said while the wage bill had been contained at around E8 billion in the past years; it had since reached the E9 billion mark, indicating continued fiscal pressures for the country.
The GNT had argued that employment in some sectors, and the awarding of CoLA, contributed to an increase in the wage bill in the 2023/24 financial year, dampening the efforts to contain it and setting a much higher base in light of the upcoming salary review in the next financial years.

Post your comment

Your name:

Your e-mail address:

Add your comments:

Please enter the code you see in the image:

Image:

Code: