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Lawyers representing the finance minister are opposing the request by public sector unions asking the court to force the government to implement the agreement that would increase workers’ wages by as much as 5.4%.
The Minister of Finance, Tito Mboweni, delivered his supplementary budget on June 24, 2020. Image: GCIS
JOHANNESBURG – Lawyers representing Finance Minister Tito Mboweni said Wednesday that the Labor Appeal Court was required to rule that the 2018 public sector wage agreement was invalid.
They oppose the request of the unions in the sector that ask the court to force the government to implement the agreement that would raise workers’ wages by up to 5.4%.
ALSO READ: 2018 public sector wage deal went through necessary approvals, hear in court
Advocate Jeremy Gauntlett said the wage agreement did not comply with Public Service Law regulations, which require, among other things, that the National Treasury sign collective agreements.
He said the unions were tackling the matter narrowly by arguing that there was a contract between the workers and the employer, while if the law were applied, the court would find that the government was within its right not to implement the agreement.
“We raised it in relation to clause 3.3. Although you could say, ‘well, your logic is selective’. The answer may be for political or other reasons; in fact, it is selective that the circumstances are such in 3.1 and 3.2 that, put in this way, that the government is so to speak, it is stuck with these consequences and cannot do anything about it, ”Gauntlett said.
ALSO READ: Treasury defends decision to freeze increases for the public sector
The Treasury is on a cost-saving mission, with the public sector wage bill as the anchor of this plan, as it expects to cut R160 billion in the next three years.
However, the unions insist the government should have played open cards from the start.
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