Publications
Partners
THE kleptocratic - looting - faction in government that has squandered and misappropriated billions of rand now expects public sector workers and the public in general to pay for this looting.
This, says Terry Bell in his latest Labour Wrap, is a widespread view throughout the labour movement as public sector unions prepare for what promises to be tough pay and conditions talks.
No date has yet been set for the talks, but they should begin next month and could signal a winter of discontent. The unions, perhaps more united than ever before, should highlight the hypocrisy of a government that claims to support job creation while freezing vacancies in the public service.
According to the unions, more than 10% of the 1.3 million posts in the public service are now unfilled, putting more pressure on existing workers.
This, says Bell, results in poorer service to the public at large, whether it be at home affairs, in the health, education or other sectors. One of the most horrific results of this cost-cutting policy was the more than 100 deaths last year of psychiatric patients who were discharged into “community care”.
By freezing posts and not filling them, Bell says workers are put under increasing pressure and service to the public suffers. He estimates that there are at least 150 000 job vacancies in the public sector, this when government claims to be supporting job creation.
He gives as an example the recent furore surrounding the action taken by pathology assistants in Gauteng that resulted in funerals having to be postponed and families being unable to have bodies released to bury their loved ones.
According to Bell, the provincial government tried to scapegoat the workers by claiming they had gone on strike or were on a “go slow” protest. Neither was the case, he says. The pathology assistants were merely working to rule. In other words, doing all the work they were contracted - and legally obliged - to do.
Such matters and numerous others will no doubt arise in the coming pay and conditions negotiations. And he maintains that the unions, despite recent fragmentation, seem more united than ever.
* Add your voice or just drop Terry a labour question. Follow Terry on twitter @telbelsa.
SUBSCRIBE FOR FREE UPDATE: Get Fin24's top morning business news and opinions in your inbox
