The Department of Public Service and Administration has refuted media reports that it has withdrawn the wage offer it tabled at the Public Service Coordinating Bargaining Council (PSCBC).

This comes after some media houses reported that since the withdrawal of the 3% wage offer, unions are pondering strike action to “get government, through the Public Service and Administration Department, to give a better offer to public servants”.

In setting the record straight, DPSA Director-General, Yoliswa Makhasi, said it is not true that government has withdrawn the offer.

“What has happened is in line with what we call, by operation of law/provisions of the PSCBC constitution, section 17.10 (b), which states that ‘if there is no majority support at the council within 21 days, the draft resolution falls away’,” Makhasi said.

The Director-General said government has been negotiating in good faith and the door of government is still open for labour to consider accepting the offer.

During the negotiations, there have been numerous rounds of discussions, with offers and counteroffers between the employer and the unions, including areas of significant disagreement.

As part of negotiating in good faith, government proposed a facilitation process as part of deadlock-breaking mechanisms. Facilitation took place on 26 – 30 August 2022.

Government had earlier proposed that employees continue to be paid a non-pensionable cash gratuity, which amounts to an average of R1 000.00 after tax to all employees across salary levels 1 – 12.

This amounts to an average of 4.5% of the R20.5 billon allocated for salaries in the 2022/23 compensation budget.

Organised labour rejected this offer.

Source: South African Government News Agency