Next SA Labour Onslaught(s) - an abridged version of an editorial piece
by Cees Bruggemans
The public sector labour force has finally
awakened out of its three year slumber
and announced its wage demand for this
negotiation round.
as effectively it adds up to much more than
+15% package-wise. It is also outrageous.
I am more than willing to give deserving
cases, those showing exceptional
They only want a 15% wage increase,
productivity gains, organisational ability
elimination of the three lowest job categories, and other talents to be granted promotion
plus a much more generous housing
and more than the niggardly extra notch to
subsidy. That’s generous, to say the least,
celebrate the occasion.
But to announce a self-help demand, with
nothing offered in return, of the order of
9% real (plus housing increment and job
category elimination) is just way over the top.
Until, that is, we consider that Prof Joan
Robinson, way back in the 1930s, already
observed that there was no sound theoretical
way of establishing relative wage levels.