POPCRU calls for an increase in danger allowance
19 August 2020
The Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (POPCRU) calls for an urgent review and increase on service allowance for SAPS Act members, and further calls for an introduction of the danger allowance for the Public Service Act employees and SAPS act members.
Countless officials within the criminal justice cluster and the health sector alike have and continue to being strained by unsavoury working conditions they are confronted with, which have further been deteriorated by the global Covid-19 pandemic that has ravaged almost all aspects of our population’s livelihoods while leaving a trail of ill, and at times deceased colleagues and breadwinners.
Those in the criminal justice cluster have also been burdened by the fight against the ever-increasing criminal activities within our country, and yet they are always the last to be considered when their needs have to be catered for, partly demonstrated by the employer’s continued attempts to renege from signed agreements.
Considering the dire conditions these officers find themselves, be it Public Service Act or Police Act members, their situation has worsened, and it is for these reasons that their danger allowances should be reviewed.
With the allowance in the SAPS having been stagnant at R400 since 2001, we have submitted a position paper at the Safety and Security Sectoral Bargaining Council (SSSBC), therein demanding the allowance to be increased to R1500, which takes into consideration that according the SSSBC Agreement 4 of 2001, the initial allowance was supposed to have been increased yearly with the Consumer Price Index (CPI), including the cost of living adjustments and the frequency of the dangers these officers find themselves.
The Public Service Coordinating Bargaining Council (PSCBC) Resolution 4 of 2015 states that the danger allowance will increase with the CPI from the 1st of April every year. While we note that DCS members are covered, we also want to see this process benefitting the Public Service Act employees.
We call on all departments to finalise their submissions to the PSCBC through their sectors on all categories of those who are supposed to get danger allowance.
We further call for the implementation of a danger insurance for all public servants. Our experiences from the death benefits of many officers has proven not to be sustainable in the long-term, leaving behind immediate families of these officers under worse conditions, and unable to fund their schooling and addressing basic family needs.
This danger insurance will serve as a step towards improving their circumstances
Issued by Richard Mamabolo, Media Liaison, POPCRU, 19 August 2020
