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CIVIL SERVANTS SALARY TALKS POSTPONED TO TUESDAY

04/09/2015 01:36:00 BY SABELO MAZIBUKO

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MBABANE – The public sector unions met again yesterday with government but had to postpone the salary negotiations to Tuesday.

On Wednesday, the unions met with government but there was chaos at the Joint Negotiating Forum and the meeting could not be closed procedurally with the union members visibly divided in front of government. Yesterday, they met again with the hope of concluding the talks, but the meeting was postponed to Tuesday.

National Public Service and Allied Workers Union’s (NAPSAWU) Musa Mdluli confirmed the latest development. However, Mdluli said talks progressed well as compared to the near chaos that was experienced on Wednesday.

“Yesterday’s negotiations were better than Wednesday where it was near chaos. We agreed that we shall meet our members and come back on Tuesday with a similar view, either to accept the 6.5 per cent offered by government or not,” said Mdluli.

He said, whatever they would agree on when they meet again on Tuesday, would be a collective decision after meeting with their members. He said they never accepted the 6.5 per cent yesterday and that they would make a decision on Tuesday when they meet again.

The unions clashed on Wednesday as the Swaziland National Association of Government Accounting Personnel (SNAGAP) indicated that they accepted the 6.5 per cent cost of living adjustment offer. SNAGAP Secretary Nelisiwe Magule said their reason to accept was because in the event they delayed, the more the buying power of the 6.5 per cent would lose value, hence they decided to accept it.

However, Magule said they were not happy with the offer but they had to accept because they understood the system. On the other hand, NAPSAWU blamed government for flouting procedure on Wednesday. However, yesterday NAPSAWU’s Mdluli said everything went well and procedure was followed and that the agenda was adopted.