Public sector wages: Police union plans Union Buildings march, pickets at stations, prisons | Fin24

• The Police Prisons and Civil Rights Union has rejected government’s 2% wage offer at the public service wage talks, demanding at least 10%.
• Popcru’s plan of action will include a march to the Union Buildings in September, and lunchtime pickets at all workplaces where the union organises.
• The union said if its program of action does not persuade the government to offer more, it will be left with “no option but to withdraw labour”. 
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The Police Prisons and Civil Rights Union (Popcru) will march to the Union Buildings in September in protest against the government’s 2% wage offer at the public service wage talks.

The union resolved to march during its special national executive committee (SNEC) meeting last week. The meeting came in the middle of make-or-break meetings with other public service unions and the government aimed at breaking the deadlock and striking a deal. Popcru has an estimated 120 000 members nationwide.

The union said its program of action would also include lunchtime pickets across all police stations, correctional centres, and traffic institutions. Popcru warned that if this is unsuccessful, the union will be left with “no option but to withdraw labour”.

By Friday, the Public Servants Association (PSA) said the government was not willing to revise its wage offer upwards to 3% without introducing cost containment measures such as early retirement without penalties, an exit mechanism for employees between the ages of 60 and 64, and voluntary severance package subject to an assessment of critical skills.

The PSA told Fin24 that it was not prepared to consider these measures for a 3% baseline increase. Unions have revised their demands downward multiple times in the talks so far, and demands now range between 4% and 6.5%. 

READ | Public wage talks: Govt ‘stuck at 2%’ as it floats containment proposals to raise offer

Popcru said in a statement that it was still reeling from the government’s decision to renege on the 2018 Public Service Co-ordinating Bargaining Council binding agreement, and head to the courts to reaffirm that decision. That agreement included increases ranging between 6% and 7%. 

“This has reduced these workers to financial hardships while basic commodities continue to rise on a daily basis,” the statement said.

The statement said the SNEC resolved to embark on its programme of action. 

“Popcru is going to march to the Union Buildings. The SNEC vehemently rejected the current government offer of a 2% salary increase including a grant of R1 000. We have always recognised that talks within boardrooms don’t always yield expected outcomes, and since the platforms which are aimed at facilitating such talks are being undermined,” the union said. 

READ | PSA declares deadlock at public wage talks, document shows

The statement said that at the march, Popcru members will head directly to President Cyril Ramaphosa to demand that public servants are paid “what is owed to them”, an offer on a baseline that is not less than 10%, and a reversal of all “austerity” measures in the public service.

“All vacant positions [need] to be filled and the employment of qualified graduates to beef up the post establishment of the public service, and we further demand that no state-owned enterprise must be privatised,” the statement said.