NEHAWU DISMISSES THE SOUTH AFRICAN INSTITUTE OF RACE RELATIONS'S SURVEY AS HOGWASH
NEHAWU has noted with concern and incredulity the latest survey from that purveyor of capitalist propaganda the South African Institute of Race Relations {SAIRR} saying that Public Sector workers earn 44% more than those in the private sector. This is nothing more than a disinformation campaign deliberately made-up to reinforce the myth that public servants are overpaid and their increases need to be moderated.
This flawed information unfortunately has been recycled without scrutiny by the unsuspecting media to achieve narrow political goals and unfortunately the SAIRR is being used as an authoritative source by the neoliberals to espouse their policies that promote anti-union, anti-worker and anti-social measures. These repeated attacks on the working class are meant to roll back whatever minor liberal measures that have been implemented by government to improve the lives of the workers.
The union finds it preposterous that while government is complaining that workers are leaving the public service to the private sector for better pay and also complaining that they cannot compete with the private sector, the SAIRR's so called survey shows that public servants are "better paid". A Registered nurse earns between R73, 371-R157, 312 in a government hospital while in a private hospital a nurse earns R117, 935-R168, 894 annually and we are told that public sector workers are on average earning 44% more that employees in the private sector.
What this pseudo survey has failed to clarify is which methodology was used to make this determination and whether the institute understands the difference between the public sector employees and the public service workers. The failure to distinguish between public sector and public service wage increases discredits the outcomes and conclusions made by the institute because public sector workers do not use the same bargaining structures and therefore do not receive the same salary increases and benefits.
The SAIRR needs to tell us which categories have been compared from the private and public sector. Are they comparing teachers, nurses, clerks with security guards and waiters? Their survey is very broad and does not show how public sector workers are divided and which levels in the public service are included.