tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16711557.post141766809948129921..comments2024-03-24T20:40:46.666-04:00Comments on Pan-African News Wire: The ANC Must Stand Its GroundPan-African News Wirehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10958190577776906688noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16711557.post-62358038616480392442007-06-12T13:50:00.000-04:002007-06-12T13:50:00.000-04:00Unions snub mediated pay proposal Pretoria, South ...Unions snub mediated pay proposal <BR/><BR/>Pretoria, South Africa <BR/>12 June 2007 03:31 <BR/><BR/>Less than an hour before they were scheduled to resume talks with government negotiators on Tuesday, all the public-service unions rejected a 7,25% wage increase proposal brokered by mediators. <BR/><BR/>"This is not substantially different from the 6% that the government has been offering for many weeks," Willie Madisha, president of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), said on behalf of all unions. <BR/><BR/>"The unions remained ready to engage but on the basis of a serious offer being placed on the table," he said. <BR/><BR/>Speaking at a press conference attended by union leaders from Cosatu-affiliated public-sector unions, the Independent Labour Caucus and a grouping of the Health and Other Services Personnel Trade Union of South Africa, the National Union of Public Service and Allied Workers and the National Teachers' Union, Madisha blamed the government for not making substantially improved offers. <BR/><BR/>Rather, the offer had improved by only 1,2% to 6,5% since talks started. Last year, the offer stood at 5,3%, later becoming 6%. <BR/><BR/>"This is not the kind of bold, decisive action on the part of the government that we need to ensure that the strike is resolved. <BR/><BR/>"We hope that the government will act decisively with an improved new offer by today [Tuesday]," he said. <BR/><BR/>Unions were scheduled to meet government negotiators at the Public Service Coordinating Bargaining Council (PSCBC) on Tuesday afternoon to discuss the mediators' proposals. <BR/><BR/>Meanwhile, Madisha said the marches and picketing planned for Wednesday would go ahead. <BR/><BR/>"Never before has there been such levels of militancy, determination and willingness to make sacrifices," he said. <BR/><BR/>Contingency plans <BR/><BR/>Meanwhile, the government was putting contingency measures in place to reduce the impact of Wednesday's looming strike, Public Service and Administration Minister Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi said on Tuesday. <BR/><BR/>"In the event that it does happen we have taken contingency measures to make sure that hospitals and schools are secure," she told a media briefing in Johannesburg. <BR/><BR/>On Tuesday, the government was scheduled to look closely at a 7,25% wage-increase offer that mediators came up with over the weekend. <BR/><BR/>"Their [the mediators'] proposal requires us to put more money on the table ... we will look at it very closely at the bargaining council today [Tuesday]." <BR/><BR/>The government's current across-the-board wage offer of 6,5% would see the salary of a "level one" public servant increase by 15,7%. This included night and weekend pay and a housing allowance. Top level employees would get a 9% increase in wages. <BR/><BR/>Fraser-Moleketi said the government had already added more than 40% to its original package. The housing allowance had gone up from R242 to R457 a month. This would be available to those both renting and buying houses. In the past it had only been available to the latter category. <BR/><BR/>The allowance would cover a bond of R70 000. Unions wanted an allowance to cover a R300 000 bond, said Vuyelwa Vumendlini, chief director of remuneration policy, job evaluation and conditions of service in the minister's department. <BR/><BR/>She said a pre-occupation in recent weeks with percentage increases had detracted attention from the comprehensive salary package. <BR/><BR/>"This has created a major diversion from making a change to the overall remuneration structure in the public service." <BR/><BR/>The minister said that more than 600 essential-service workers had been given letters of dismissal by Monday night. She said workers who had been striking legally would have the days not worked deducted from their pay. <BR/><BR/>Sympathy strike <BR/><BR/>The South African Municipal Workers' Union (Samwu) was granted permission to embark on a sympathy strike in solidarity with public-service workers by the Johannesburg Labour Court on Tuesday. <BR/><BR/>Handing down judgement, Judge Johan van Niekerk said the proposed strike by municipal workers would have an impact on the national government, as a lawyer representing Samwu had argued. <BR/><BR/>"Municipalities play a role in the running of the national government and the disruption of services will therefore have an impact on the government as the primary employer." <BR/><BR/>He said the one-day strike scheduled for Wednesday would also have "some effect on the bargaining process". <BR/><BR/>Van Niekerk based his argument on provisions of Section 66 (2)(C) of the Labour Relations Act. <BR/><BR/>The Act stipulates that when employees embark on a secondary strike, "that strike must have a direct or indirect effect on the business of the primary employer". <BR/><BR/>The primary employer in this case was the national government. <BR/><BR/>However, he ruled that employees classified as essential-service workers be prohibited from joining the strike. <BR/><BR/>"The one day strike called by Samwu is a protected strike and those employees not in essential services might participate." <BR/><BR/>The South African Local Government Association was instructed to pay all legal costs suffered by Samwu during the court proceedings. <BR/><BR/>The association took Samwu to court on Tuesday morning in a bid to prohibit them from embarking on the solidarity strike. <BR/><BR/>SapaPan-African News Wirehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10958190577776906688noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16711557.post-31637784359608017272007-06-12T13:47:00.000-04:002007-06-12T13:47:00.000-04:00Mbeki faces biggest test in ANC Michael GeorgyJoh...Mbeki faces biggest test in ANC <BR/> <BR/>Michael Georgy<BR/>Johannesburg, South Africa <BR/>12 June 2007 12:39 <BR/> <BR/>South African President Thabo Mbeki is facing mounting threats to his widely perceived plan to retain influence after he stands down as head of state.<BR/><BR/>The presidential succession debate has already plunged the African National Congress (ANC) into some of its worst factional turmoil since it led South Africa from apartheid to multiracial elections in 1994.<BR/><BR/>Now Mbeki -- accused by critics of promoting big business at the expense of the poor -- faces a direct challenge from provincial ANC branches pushing to remove him from the party's leadership race.<BR/><BR/>South Africa's Constitution forbids Mbeki from serving as president for a third term when his current stint ends in 2009.<BR/><BR/>But many political analysts believe he will go for a new term to remain head of the ANC at its congress in December.<BR/><BR/>This would give him a big say on who becomes the next national president and thereby set South Africa's political agenda for years to come.<BR/><BR/>The ANC's powerful KwaZulu-Natal branch on Sunday adopted a resolution opposing two centres of power -- shorthand for splitting political control between the ANC leader and the presidency.<BR/><BR/>ANC provincial branches outside Mbeki's camp have been lobbying for some time to ensure the new leader becomes the next president.<BR/><BR/>But analysts say Mbeki's opponents are now in their best position to advance the campaign, with most looking to a crucial ANC policy conference at the end of the month for signs of where the argument is headed.<BR/><BR/>Mbeki's free-market policies are currently under intense fire from one of the biggest public-service pay strikes since the end of apartheid, a stoppage headed by powerful unions that back Mbeki's rival in the ANC contest, current party deputy president Jacob Zuma.<BR/><BR/>The controversial and resilient Zuma, whose stronghold is KwaZulu-Natal, remains popular among the rank and file despite several corruption scandals that have tarnished him.<BR/><BR/>Biggest threat<BR/><BR/>"This is the biggest threat to Mbeki's ANC re-election campaign," said Susan Booysen, a political analyst at the University of the Witwatersrand.<BR/><BR/>"This issue of one power centre will be on the agenda at the [December] meeting. If the ANC adopts that position it will be a big victory for Zuma and his people."<BR/><BR/>The ANC has enjoyed an electoral stranglehold on South Africa since Nelson Mandela led the party to victory at the end of apartheid in 1994, but has been plagued by infighting since Mbeki dismissed Zuma as his deputy president in 2005.<BR/><BR/>Zuma could gain ammunition from the latest provincial lobbying against Mbeki.<BR/><BR/>Professor Adam Habib, of the Human Sciences Research Council, says "the first salvo" has been fired ahead of the ANC policy meeting from June 27 to July 1.<BR/><BR/>"I think it is worthwhile noting that these provincial policy conferences are really the curtain raisers," he told Safm radio station.<BR/><BR/>"This particular policy endorsement [by KwaZulu-Natal] was clearly aimed at ensuring that President Mbeki does not look towards standing for a third term."<BR/><BR/>Mbeki's critics accuse him of undermining democracy by personally appointing provincial premiers, a view shared by Sipho Seepe, a director of the Graduate Institute of Management and Technology.<BR/><BR/>But Seepe says the struggle between the methodical Mbeki and Zuma, a man who is banking on grassroots support, is not really about democracy. Rather, it highlights a political problem in the country 13 years after its first all-race elections.<BR/><BR/>"People back politicians because they like them not because they have the qualifications. South African politics need to evolve into a merit system."<BR/><BR/>The latest party manoeuvring could open the door for a compromise candidate to lead the ANC with former political prisoner and multimillionaire businessman Tokyo Sexwale saying he could be a contender. <BR/><BR/>ReutersPan-African News Wirehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10958190577776906688noreply@blogger.com