Government has taken an about-turn on public servants’ wage freezes, asking for an out-of-court settlement. This decision was announced just ahead of a long-awaited case at the Labour Appeal Court due to start today.

The government wants the court case to be postponed to after February next year to buy it more time to negotiate. The chief negotiator for the majority of the Cosatu unions, Mugwena Maluleke says that this last-minute move is “disrespectful and disingenuous” because it has always taken an adversarial approach with unions over the wage dispute, but now wants to make peace.

The wage freeze for public servants, which begins in 2021, is at the heart of the government’s plans to cut its spending by R300-billion over the next three years to bring state debt under control.

Header image: FILE / Radio 786