By Trevor Ngwane
The first indications of what life will be like for public sector workers under the Government of National Unity (GNU) can arguably be seen in the pioneering five-year salary and wage agreement that was recently signed by municipal unions and the municipalities.
Historically, local government has been fraught with conflict between unions and the local state, with recent strikes best described as disruptive and chaotic. The recent unprotected strikes in Tshwane and eThekwini were characterised by mounds of uncollected rubbish in the streets, vandalised municipal infrastructure, intimidation of non-striking workers and tens of strikers being fired.
Will the five-year deal bring peace and stability to the crisis-ridden local government sector? Is this the beginning of a new era of improved service delivery by South Africa’s underperforming municipalities?
These are important questions not only for the workers but for the public who are adversely affected by the incompetence, wastefulness and corruption which, in some instances, have led to the collapse of services, leaving communities without electricity, water, garbage removal and other basic services.
Auditor-General Tsakani Maluleke recently issued a damning report, revealing that only 38 of the country’s 257 municipalities had received a clean audit. She lamented the resultant instability of local government blighted by incompetence, lack of accountability and cash flow problems.
Although it can be argued that workers are implicated in poor service delivery, they are often the first people to suffer from the governance, management and financial chaos in the municipalities and thus, often the first to respond, complain and challenge the municipal managers and their political bosses.
A thorn that has irked workers across the public sector has been the tendency of the authorities not to honour wage agreements. The five-month strike in Tshwane was a result of the DA-led coalition government refusing to pay workers the third leg of a three-year wage deal signed in 2021, which provided increases of 3.5% (2021/22), 4.9% (2022/23), and 5.4% (2023/24).
It is important to note that the SA Municipal Workers Union and Independent Municipal and Allied Trade Union leaders had agreed to below inflation increases for the first two years of the deal, in consideration of the financial pressures on the public purse partly as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic crisis.
The municipal unions have been vocal in pointing out corruption in municipalities because when the municipal bosses run short of money as a result of poor financial management and corruption, they run to the bargaining chamber to apply for an exemption from implementing wage agreements, a move encouraged by the National Treasury in 2020. The approach has also entailed the blatant refusal to honour wage agreements, which has angered the unions and provoked strikes.
Public sector workers across the board, that is, including teachers, nurses, police and employees in state-owned enterprises, have long been under attack from the National Treasury, which consistently pushes an austerity programme that seeks to reduce the public sector wage bill, with implications for jobs and wages. The attitude is “take it or leave it” because the wage allotment is unilaterally made before the institution of collective bargaining processes.
The five-year wage agreement in the municipal sector is viewed as a victory by the government and union leaders and a first step towards stability and peace, especially for the duration of the GNU. The GNU could do with some peace because it faces a legitimacy crisis as a result of the political realignment which is the basis for its existence and the challenge of governing a country that is caught in the throes of an economic and social crisis. What policy instruments are available to the GNU that would help it address the triple problems of unemployment, poverty and inequality that are causing chaos in the lives of millions of people and eroding the social fabric?
The answer is ironically to be found in the lauded five-year wage deal which, on closer scrutiny, is arguably the continuation of pro-capitalist, neo-liberal and anti-worker policies. On the government website, it is stated that the deal “will see employees receiving a 6% salary increase effective 1 July 2024, and an additional 1.5% from 1 March 2025”.
This is not true as the deal states that the 6% increase will be structured as follows: “employees will receive a 4.5% increase effective from 1 July 2024 and an additional 1.5% from March 2025.” In other words, for eight months, the workers will get an increase that is less than consumer price index and the increase for the full year is 5.13%. In the 2025/26 and 2026/27 financial years, the salary will be set at CPI plus 0.75%; in 2027/28 and 2028/29, the increases will be pegged at CPI plus 1.25%.
The sleight of hand with the figures is not acceptable as it sugar-coats a harsh reality facing workers. Workers sacrificed more than a wage increase during Covid-19, many health workers died in municipal clinics and provincial hospitals including other essential workers who could not work from home. Employed workers carry the burden of the millions of unemployed family members and friends. Workers also spend their money on economic goods and services that often attract a higher rate of inflation.
The five-year deal does not improve workers’ lives. In fact, it locks workers in poverty as they must, as Alice in Wonderland said, “run very hard just to keep where they are”. The political changes we see in the GNU are one-sided because of the continuation of the same neo-liberal economic policies that have left millions of working-class people poor during 30 years of ANC rule.
Unless the GNU adopts policy frameworks that are transformative and that address the economic and social crisis facing the masses, the multiyear wage deals can be regarded as an attempt to contain workers by locking them into agreements that will be used against them tomorrow when the balance of forces change and mass struggles for radical change emerge. Workers cannot expect emancipation under capitalism.
* Trevor Ngwane is an activist scholar and sociology senior lecturer at the University of Johannesburg
** The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of IOL or Independent Media