Campaigns Bulletin : Wage negotiations 2000

It is sad how the promises of a better life for all made by the government means so little for workers. Cosatu and Samwu mobilised our forces to ensure a victory for the ANC in the national and local government elections. Despite the fact that workers have put MPs into parliament and councillors into local government councils, we have yet to see any real benefit for workers. The 3rd and final round of negotiations delivered a big disappointment for Samwu. Once again we went into negotiations with high hopes of persuading Saiga to implement decent wage increases. Samwu’s position of R250 or 10% for workers earning less than R6 700 per month was very reasonable. Because we said that those earning more than R13 700 should get a 7% increase, this meant that the total cost to councils was only 9%, which is very affordable. Saiga moved its position in negotiations by 1%. They also tried to get us to give up our demand for a R250 increase by offering a minimum wage of R1600. As we know, most workers are earning more than that. Workers earning R1600 Saiga's 5% will mean a R80 increase. This is less than councillor's get for attending one meeting! Although the negotiators tried everything to try to reach a settlement, Saiga frustrated us at every turn