Times Of Swaziland: CIVIL SERVANTS DIVIDED OVER 3% COLA DEAL

CIVIL SERVANTS DIVIDED OVER 3% COLA DEAL
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Stanley Khumalo on 06/07/2022 08:04:00


MANZINI – The cost-of-living adjustment (CoLA) offer extended by government to
managers and non-unionisable civil servants has seemingly brought division among
the public servants.
On June 27, 2022, the Government Negotiation Team (GNT) and the Eswatini
Principals Association (EPA) signed a collective agreement to implement a three
per cent CoLA of monthly basic salary across the board with effect from the
beginning of the government financial year, April 1, 2022. In addition to this,
the parties also agreed on an additional once-off payment of one per cent of
annual basic salary across the board.
According to the Minister of Public Service, Mabulala Maseko, the GNT was
negotiating on the basis that there was a budget of E220 million set aside
through the Appropriations Act No. 1 of 2023 for CoLA in the 2022/2023 financial
year.
Negotiated
Given that the public sector unions (PSUs) of Swaziland, who until this year,
have always negotiated for civil servants, did not agree with government on the
agenda for the joint negotiation forum (JNF), they were excluded from the offer.
Subsequent to the agreement by the GNT and EPA, some members of the PSUs took to
social media platforms while others called this publication, where they
expressed their opinions on the matter. Some of the civil servants said the
unions should have taken the money as it would have made a difference in their
lives given the escalating cost-of-living, while others were sticking to the
resolve of their leaders.
Inflation
Some teachers in their group – Teachers Circle - said the three per cent CoLA
was minimal given the inflation. One of them said getting nothing was far
better, as she remained on the same tax bracket, than to get an increment that
would increase her pay-as-you-earn (PAYE) deduction while not improving her
financial status. Another said she was fine as the difference brought by the
award was minimal while another teacher noted that this was a divide and rule
strategy.
“The three per cent is an insult looking at the increase in commodities,”
said another. On the other hand, some civil servants expressed regret that
government was extending the offer to a limited number. They claimed that taking
the amount that was offered was far better than getting nothing, as it was a
known fact that government had never listened to their leaders (trade unions).
He said: “Before 2020, the unions were seeking CoLA for three consecutive
years and nothing was offered. Instead, in 2020, they made an offer which
seemingly meant that we were getting one per cent CoLA for each of the years
none was offered. So, what is different this time?”
Sentiments
The public servant was of the view that the PSUs should have negotiated for the
same offer in the interim, while they looked at the broader picture. His
sentiments were also shared by others, who claimed that rejecting what
government proposed would not alter anything. They claimed that in their
experience in the civil service, government always did what it wanted regardless
of their stance.  Other civil servants called this publication and stated that
they would have appreciated the little that government was offering.
“It’s tough out there, even E200 would make a difference at this point. We
should taken this offer while negotiating for more,” another said.
To these assertions by members of the PSUs, the secretariat through Swaziland
National Association of Teachers (SNAT) Secretary General (SG) Sikelela Dlamini,
said they were not deterred by the collective agreement between EPA and the GNT.
Agreed
Dlamini beseeched their members not to feel left out by what was offered and
agreed upon by the other union. Instead, he said they would follow their
concerns to the end at the Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration Commission
(CMAC). “Our members should do proper calculations and see that what has been
agreed to by the other union is too minimal and can’t meet the
cost-of-living,” Dlamini said. He said they were negotiating for a better
livelihood which was inclusive of the allowances that were not improved in the
2016 salary review.
Currently, Dlamini said they were getting transport allowances that valued a
kilometre at 17 cents despite that bus fare for short distances was now E10. The
SNAT secretary general said they wanted realistic allowances for their members,
which would be in-line with the current commercial rates. He also said civil
servants were still offered E600 as housing allowance despite that the
commercial rates for a decent one bedroom house was in excess of E2 000.
Dlamini said the PSUs would consult their membership after the reconciliation
process at CMAC to establish what they wanted. Meanwhile, government said in
addition to the E220 million CoLA, it had also set aside E55 million for the
2016 Salary Review Appeals and E15 million for the engagement of a consultant to
undertake a salary review of the entire public service.
With this budget, the Ministry of Public Service said government was conscious
of the erosion of the buying power of salaries for civil servants and was also
in full appreciation of the prevailing fiscal and cash flow challenges, which
was why the employer invited both the PSUs (NAPSAWU, SNAT, SNA and SNAGAP) and
EPA at the beginning of the 2022/2023 financial year to present their proposed
agenda items that would culminate in a consolidated agenda for the current
financial year.
It is worth noting that the four trade unions enjoy a vast support from public
service workers as SNAT is said to have over 12 002 members, while the National
Public Services and Allied Workers Union (NAPSAWU) has about 7 296 members.
Also, Swaziland Democratic Nurses Union (SWADNU) has about 2 019 members from
about 4 000 nurses while the Swaziland National Association of Government
Accounting Personnel (SNAGAP) has about 800 members.
In total, according to the Establishment Register for the 2022/23 financial
year, there are 42 686 civil servants. This means that if government executes
the move to exclude only public servants who pay subscriptions to trade unions,
only 20 569 employees would benefit.This is because collectively, the trade
unions have about 22 117 members.
Evidence
To this, SNAT Secretary General (SG) Sikelela Dlamini said it was the evidence
of union bashing which they had raised in several instances with the employer.
He said they were steadfast in their resolve to take their matter for the
reconciliation process at the Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration Commission
(CMAC) tomorrow. Dlamini said as PSUs, they viewed the novel negotiations as a
divide and rule strategy being employed by government (employer). He said what
their employer as civil servants had done was setting a tone that would extend
to the private sector.
Also, SG of SWADNU Mayibongwe Masangane, said this was a message to civil
servants by the employer, saying that they should not join unions. He said their
understanding was that government should only pay civil servants who were
non-unionisable. Non-unionisable employees are those who cannot join a trade
union due to the nature of their employment and or are in management.
Meanwhile, the three per cent cost-of-living adjustment (CoLA) and once-off one
per cent of an annual salary follows an agreement reached by government with
EPA. The pair engaged in novel negotiations parallel to those with PSUs, who
have from time immemorial, been negotiating for civil servants. Government and
the PSUs reached a deadlock on what ought to be the agenda of the negotiations
at the joint negotiation forum (JNF) this financial year. Through a press
statement on Monday, government said the decision followed a deadlock between
PSUs and the employer (government negotiation team (GNT)).
The minister said in a meeting of the JNF held on April 27, 2022, the PSUs and
GNT engaged each other with the aim of setting the agenda items for discussion
during this financial year according to priority. He said the parties, however,
failed to agree on the merging of the agenda items as well as the criteria and
justifications used by each party in arriving at the order of priority of the
agenda items presented at the table.
“As a result, there from, the parties agreed to disagree and signed a deadlock
on the setting of the agenda. The agenda items presented by the GNT were in the
following order of priority: CoLA, negotiations framework, finalisation of the
salary review appeals and salary review.” The minister said the PSUs, on the
other hand, also presented their list of agenda items in the following order of
priority; finalisation of the negotiations framework, allowances, finalisation
of salary review appeals, salary review, CoLA for the 2022/23 financial year and
quality public service delivery. Maseko said the proposal from the GNT was to
alternate the agenda items until the list was exhausted. However, this proposal,
he said, was rejected by the PSUs, who proposed that the agenda items that were
left pending from the previous financial year 2021/2022 should be first on the
agenda.
Acceptable
This, he said, was not acceptable to the GNT, who held the view that there was
no agreement compelling parties to bring forward items pending from previous
financial years, but rather the agenda should be set based on the need for that
financial year, hence the deadlock. Following the deadlock, the PSUs reported a
dispute at CMAC and the parties were summoned to appear before the commission
tomorrow for the conciliation of the dispute. The minister said in compliance
with the existing Recognition Agreements with NAPSAWU, SNAT, SWADNU and SNAGAP,
government would only table the offer to members of EPA, those employees
regarded as managers and those employees who, by the nature of their work, could
not join a union or were non-unionisable.