Dear ISA members
Wage negotiations
On Tuesday 13 June 2017 the conciliation for the dispute lodged by Labour took place at the CCMA. The dispute was referred on 19 May following a fruitless meeting with management who came to the table empty-handed.
At the time Labour was prepared to settle on a 7,3% salary increase, conditional on the simultaneous implementation of proficiency, pay progression and insourcing. The employer stated that as these issues had financial implications they had to be referred to and considered by the insourcing task team, the Remuneration and Human Resources Committee and Financial Committee, and their recommendations referred to the Board. The employer had had discussions with the former three committees but the Board would only sit the following week.
Labour felt the employer was procrastinating and referred the matter to CCMA for conciliation. We report as follows after the CCMA hearing:
(i) No agreement could be reached between the parties on the issues in dispute.
(ii) The employer offered a 0% increase in salaries and is not in a position to offer a 7,3% increase as demanded by Labour.
(iii) Management stated that the salary bill amounts to + R270 million per month and due to a deficit of R142 million they cannot meet Labour’s demands for a 7,3% salary increase.
(iv) The NHLS is still experiencing problems with payments that must be made for services rendered by NHLS to certain provinces such as KZN and Gauteng.
(v) As a result, the NHLS is also experiencing difficulty in meeting their financial commitments to suppliers of goods and equipment.
(vi) Management will endeavour to introduce cost cutting measures such as rationalization of certain services.
As no agreement could be reached the parties agreed that the Bargaining and Labour Relations Forum will meet on 21 June 2017 to endeavour to reach an agreement. If not, the matter will again be discussed at the CCMA on 22 June 2017 in order to reach an agreement.
ISA will keep on fighting for its members and negotiate for the best possible outcome.
We will keep you posted and hope for better news with our next newsletter.