PSA will consult members on government's improved wage offer

The Public Servants Association (PSA) on Wednesday said it welcomed the revised wage offer of 3% for public servants by the government.

Parties to the Public Service Co-ordinating Bargaining Council (PSCBC) met on Tuesday, where a draft agreement was tabled for consideration.

The bargaining council said the employer will pay a 3% pensionable salary increase to all employees on salary levels one to 12 between April 1 2022 and March 31 2023.

The employer also offered to continue to pay the non-pensionable cash allowance of R1,000 until March 31 2023.

The PSA, which represents more than 235,000 public-sector employees, said it could not reach an agreement during recent wage negotiations for 2022/23 in the PSCBC earlier this month and declared a dispute.

The parties agreed to a facilitation process which led to the latest offer.

“Although the offer on the baseline alone is not close to the inflation rate, the PSA is of the opinion that the continued payment of the cash allowance will provide much-needed financial relief to employees who had to bear the brunt of the high cost of living in recent months whilst awaiting the negotiation processes to be concluded,” the association said.

The PSA said it would embark on a mandate-seeking process to determine if the agreement will be accepted by union members.

When the negotiations started earlier this year, unions demanded a 10% salary increase, a R2,500 housing allowance, access to the pension fund and a bursary scheme for children of government employees. The government initially offered no increase.

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