Govt workers lose Constitutional Court bid to enforce wage agreement
The Constitutional Court has ruled against public sector trade unions in their bid to force government to honour a wage agreement for 2020, siding with the Labour Appeal Court which found that the agreement was unlawful.
At stake was R75.6-billion in backpay, which unions had hoped the court would order must be paid as well as a higher salary baseline going forward.
For Treasury and Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana the ruling will come as a relief. Had the court ruled against government, the budget framework – tabled only last week – would have been thrown into disarray with an obligation on government to both pay backpay for two years and raise the wage bill for the next three years by a baseline of R37.8-billion.
The Constitutional Court found that as the wage increase had not been budgeted for and Treasury had indicated this to the state’s representatives during the bargaining process, the agreement was unlawful.
The outcome means that public servants' wages have been frozen for two years. In 2021, they received a R1 000 a month cash gratuity as a sweetener. But this amount has not been included in pensionable salaries.
Comments
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation