A huge blow was dealt to SA’s 1.2-million public servants when the Constitutional Court decided to uphold the finance minister’s decision not to grant government workers their annual increase since 2018.

In the opinion of public servants, the court sided with the employer, which is the state, and endorsed an economic consolidation plan. It i sad for the majority of government workers. Currently the whole country is in a dire situation, with everything going up.

What does this then mean for bargaining councils? Does it mean they are no longer effective and public servants should do away with them? Now that public servants have lost the case how will this influence future collective agreements?

Collective bargaining is going to be rendered unserviceable. The employer will destabilise the process which in turn will mean that employees will work without any salary increases. I foresee public servants revolting against the state.

What is more detrimental with this case is that for the past two years there have been no increase on the government pension fund. It means workers were earning a salary that in not pensionable. The government pension fund contribution is also stagnant.

How can you have good working relations when you know that years down the line when it’s your time to retire, you find that you don’t have enough money to take care of you. Civil service unions should also pull up their socks and do better in fighting for the right of public servants. Government workers will start to wonder why they have union representation if they can embrace such questionable processes.

Phumzile Malatswane, Dawn Park, Boksburg