Johannesburg - Trade unions appear to be scoring goals for their members as the current wage agreements are higher than inflation, which reached 4.6% in May.
Unionists and analysts say this benefit is not linked to the negotiation season coinciding with the World Cup.
But business is concerned about the precedent being set by the higher wage settlements.
Professor Sakhela Buhlungu from the University of Johannesburg’s Sociology of Work department, says labour is not holding employers to ransom by striking during this period.
“When the workers start striking, they are wrongly described as immoral and unpatriotic. But when the employers come up with excuses to give labourers lower increases when the economy is down, not many people criticise them.”
Buhlungu says this year’s negotiations are happening against a background of companies splashing out millions on World Cup tickets.
“Eskom, for instance, spent R12m on World Cup tickets, yet it is failing to give the workers the increase they want. This raises suspicions that there is money stashed away but it is not for the benefit of the employees,” he says.
The Bureau for Economic Research at the University of Stellenbosch forecasts that wage settlements will average 9% this year.
In contrast, the bureau believes inflation will be about 6.3% by the end of the year.
Buhlungu says these figures are lower than the 20% increases company executives have been giving themselves in recent years.
Andrew Levy, chief executive of Andrew Levy Employment, says strikes occurring now could turn public opinion against labour.
“But it seems the unions are benefiting by pulling the World Cup card to negotiate for higher increases as some unions have managed to get away with a double-digit increase,” says Levy.
He says the workers are right to demand above-inflation increases as failure to do so would see their spending power being eroded.
He says it is unfair to compare the fat salaries of directors to the meagre pay of foot soldiers.
“Directors get paid on performance, scarce skills, supply and demand of the product or services being offered by their companies,” he says.
Michael Spicer of Business Leadership SA condemned the current wage agreements as unsustainable.
“If the public sector continues giving out these high wage increases, it will lead to budget deficits.”
He says labour and employers have to exercise a high level of responsibility in wage negotiations.
“Management should be careful when adjusting their pay so that they don’t give perceptions that they are offering themselves excessive salary increases,” says Spicer.
Rudi Dicks, the chief executive of Naledi, the research arm of labour federation Cosatu, says unions’ right to strike cannot be overridden by the hosting of the World Cup.
Naledi’s figures show that unions accepted average increases of 7.7% in 2008 while inflation set at 11.5%. Last year, inflation averaged 7.1% while the workers took a 9.3% salary increase.
Last year’s settlements exclude sectors that were in the last year of their three-year agreement.
Using the World Cup
An attempt by new union, the South African Aviation and Allied Workers’ Union, to link their industrial action to the World Cup failed this week.
Its spokesperson, Levy Mhlaba, claimed that Fifa gave Airports Company South Africa (Acsa) and airport retailers money to pay workers a bonus for ensuring an incident-free World Cup.
It claimed that not all workers were receiving the bonus.
Acsa spokesperson Solomon Makgale denied any Fifa payment.
“They are talking about an incentive scheme Acsa put in place for its own employees at the airport.”
He said the company had decided to pay a bonus of R800 a week to people it employed during the World Cup and who were at work during that time.
The police oversaw a group of 100 people dispersing as the strike failed to take hold.
Jaco Kleynhans, the spokesperson for trade union Solidarity, said they had stayed away from industrial action during the World Cup as they believed their members would not benefit.
“Strikes during the tournament would result in our country getting bad publicity.”
Kleynhans said the union would embark on wage negotiations after the tournament.
- City Press
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