Premier Alan Winde says the provincial government supports a 0% wage increase for public servants and politicians for the next three financial years, a stance criticized by the National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu).

Winde says his Cabinet resolved this week that it is financially unsustainable to offer public servants any increase, due to South Africa’s severely constrained financial environment and pressure on provinces.

Unions are demanding a massive above-inflation increase of 12%, while it has also recently rejected the National government’s 3% counteroffer. This points to the possibility of a protracted and difficult wage negotiation process at the Public Service Coordinating Bargaining Council that still lies ahead.

Winde says the current proposal by labour unions is simply unaffordable:

“Trade unions should be realistic and consider the country’s difficult fiscal situation. Continuous above-inflation wage increases are unaffordable. We are experiencing the impact of the 2023/24 salary adjustments on our core services. Essentially it is our residents, particularly the most vulnerable who are being hit the hardest by budget cuts we are having to make to fund the shortfall caused by the outcome of the last round of negotiations.”

Nehawu has reacted, saying it is deeply angered by Winde’s statements.

They issued a strongly worded statement, laced with insults and thinly veiled threats:

“We view the statement of this anti-working class government as nonsensical, and an attempt to influence the employer to advance the long-held view of the DA that public servants are highly paid, but equally the public service is bloated hence they are not ashamed to be the only province which responds to failures of the austerity program by cutting teachers jobs.

”The union believes that the arrogance of DA has now reached a nauseating level, and they now think that the electoral strategic setback suffered by the movement gives them a right to change the current arrangement of Government of National Unity to a Government of Neoliberal Unity which doesn’t give a damn about the fact that the public servants have been denied real salary increases since 2021, and as a result they remain highly indebted, unable to have housing because on the other hand, they do not qualify for RDP houses, but even if they did qualify, this government of the Western Cape sees no need to build those RDP houses because their concern is only about the rich within the province.

”NEHAWU calls on the government mandating team to ignore the nonsensical views by this white Boys-choir calling for the state not to increase salaries of public servants as it is a position of the privileged few, otherwise giving it any consideration would be a serious betrayal to public servants who are at the coalface of service delivery.

”Lastly, we want to assure the Allen Winde-led anti-workers white boys’ choir masquerading as Cabinet that if they continue with their nonsensical views then very soon we shall mobilize the working class to pay them a visit with a view of finding shelter in their flashy suburbs, a day they shall regret.”

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