Fedusa to seek 17%

The Federation of Unions of SA (Fedusa) says ts affiliates will demand a 17 percent salary hike across the board for 2010.

This was decided after Fedusa's national executive committee's annual collective bargaining conference.

"During a presentation by Labour Research Service (LRS) director Saliem Patel, he explained that it would only be fair to workers to ask for a salary increase of 17 percent that would equate South African workers salaries to that of what they were earning back in 2005," Fedusa said.

According to Patel, wages and salaries had decreased over the last five years and the only way workers were going to get back to the level of 2005 was for trade unions to bargain for salary increases of about 17 percent.

"He explained that during the period of 2005-2009 workers' salaries had declined by 12.65 percent, but that during the same period, salaries of various chief executive officers (on average) had increased from about R6.7 million per year to R12 million over the same period," Fedusa said in a statement.

The federation's general secretary Dennis George said the time had come for trade unions to use this kind of information to make informed and calculated demands when negotiating for salary increases.

"The inequality of salaries in the workplace is appalling and we must be radical in our approach - because at the end of the day it's the worker that suffers the most.

He said workers in South Africa were hard hit by high electricity tariffs, high food prices and poor service delivery.

"We need to demand a salary that will enhance the well-being of all workers and we want to agree with Patel that it be in the line with the identified amount of 17 percent across the board," said George.