Pretoria - The ministry for public service and administration has confirmed it has declared a dispute after "very little progress" with the Public Service Co-ordinating Bargaining Council (PSCBC).
This comes after two months of wage negotiations.
Minister Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi said on Saturday the next step would involve bringing in a third party in the form of a facilitator through the dispute resolution processes of the PSCBC.
Her statement said the main reasons that compelled the government to take this step were because:
public-service employees were expecting an adjustment to their salaries with effect from July 1 2004.
On Friday, Anton Louwrens, general manager for the Public Servants Association (PSA), admitted it was a surprise.
"It's the first time in the history of negotiations, which started in 1994, that the government has called a dispute. Normally it's the unions who do so," he said.
Government has been bargaining with eight unions including the PSA, SA Democratic Teachers Union, National Education, Health and Allied Workers Union, Police and Prison Civil Union and the South African Police Union.
Next stage is to call in conciliators
The unions represent about 700 000 public servants, but the negotiations affect more than a million employees.
Louwrens said the unions were asking for an increase of CPIX (5.4%) plus 8% for this year, plus 9% for 2005 and 10% for 2006.
"The government was not prepared to accept those offers," said Louwrens.
The government was apparently prepared to offer only CPIX and that each year's increases would be individually negotiated.
The next stage is to call in conciliators who will attempt to bring both sides closer together, Louwrens said, warning that if this failed, strike action was an option.
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