SADTU majority teacher union fought very HARD for OSD

Report of the Special ELRC Bargaining Meeting

Updated 30 September 2009- 13 October 2009

PURPOSE

  • The meeting was convened as a sequel to the request of SADTU to have the bargaining meeting to receive the report from the Employer on the work of the Task Team as established in terms of the addendum to Collective Agreement 4 of 2009 of the ELRC. This would also allow the Employer to disclose the amount available for the implementation and finalization of the said collective agreement.
  • The meeting was also to receive the report on the implementation of the PSCBC Resolution 5 of 2009 of the General Salary adjustment.

ELRC COLLECTIVE AGREEMENT 4 OF 2009 (OSD)

The Employer tabled a report on the funding process of Collective Agreement 4 of 2009 of the ELRC detailing the following:

  • That the available funds sourced was R2.3b which was available immediately.
  • That the implementation would be done in a two phased approach, with the first phase accommodating paragraph 4.2 (Recognition of Experience) and 4.5 (Senior and Master Teachers).
  • That paragraphs 4.3 (Pay progression and Accelerated pay progression) and 4.4 (Improvement of conditions of service for Educators on REQV 10 - 12) will be implemented in the new financial year commencing 01 April 2010.
  • The Employer further requested to be granted additional 7 working days to engage their Principals on the implementation, and the special council be convened thereafter to report fully on the processes.

PSCBC RESOLUTION 5 OF 2009 (SALARY ADJUSTMENT)

The Employer was non-committal on the actual date of implementation of the salary adjustment in education, but indicated the following:

  • That Education as a sector has programmatically finalized the adjustment of the salary scales and are ready to pay;
  • That they are just awaiting DPSA to give them a go ahead to effect the adjustments on PERSAL for payment.

LABOUR`S RESPONSE ON THE EMPLOYER`S REPORT

Labour`s view on the Employer`s report was that:

  • It did not outline the breakdown of costing per item of the Collective Agreement as requested;
  • It did not respond to the provisions of the addendum to the Collective Agreement on the implementation process;
  • It is prescriptive on the implementation process, rather than allowing the Council to deliberate on the matter;
  • It was an un-mandated position as the Employer was still requesting for additional 7 working days to further engage their Principals on the implementation.

CONCLUSION

Labour rejected the report and further requested the Employer to provide a mandated and detailed report outlining the full costing of each item of the Collective Agreement.A special bargaining meeting would be convened on Monday, 05 October 2009 to receive and interact with a report.

RE - CONVENED ELRC BARGAINING MEETING: 05 OCTOBER 2009

The bargaining meeting re-convened on the 05th October 2009 to receive the proper report from the Employer and the proposal from the Employer.
IMPLEMENTATION PROPOSAL FROM THE EMPLOYER: ELRC COLLECTIVE AGREEMENT 4 OF 2009 (OSD)

The Employer presented their proposal, outlining how they would like utilize the available funds to address the provisions of the OSD. (Attached)

They also presented the statistical information outlining the number of educators who are to benefit as per each item of the collective agreement.
We noted some discrepancies in relation to the numbers that were previously and the ones presented in the meeting. A process of verification was therefore agreed upon to ensure that the numbers presented are a true reflection of what is prevailing in the provinces.

The Employer was also non - committal on the implementation date of the proposal they were tabling, citing the delay of loading information in the PERSAL system. Labour expressed their dissatisfaction on the response from the Employer on the implementation date and indicated that we would not accept any date that goes beyond the 30th October 2009.

It was therefore agreed that a meeting between treasury and the Employer would be convened on the 06th October 2009 and the Special bargaining meeting would then continue in the afternoon of the same day to receive the report of that meeting.

The Council was then scheduled to re - convene in the afternoon of the 06th October 2009.

RE - CONVENED ELRC BARGAINING MEETING: 06 OCTOBER 2009

The bargaining meeting re-convened on the 06th October 2009 to receive the report from the Employer on the implementation date of Collective Agreement 4 of 2009 in line with their proposal.

The Employer presented a report indicating the 30th October 2009 as the implementation date of the collective agreement as proposed.
SADTU indicated that the proposal including the implementation date report would be tabled at the NEC of the 08th October 2009 for final mandate.

ELRC BARGAINING MEETING: 13 OCTOBER 2009

The mandate has since been obtained to allow the Employer to implement the Collective Agreement by the 30th October 2009 as proposed, and was tabled in the bargaining council of the 13th October 2009.

The remainder of the agreement will be paid on or before the 1st of April 2010 as per the Addendum to Collective Agreement 4 of 2009. This Addendum allows the state to seek for funds and come to council for negotiations on how the funds should be utilized.

The facilitation of the implementation of the R2,3bn:

The DoE acknowledged that the translation scales for the ROE (recognition of experience) and the Senior and Master Teachers were submitted to Persal together with the departmental directive to ensure implementation by the 30th October 2009. (NB. Technical information dealing with ROE and Senior and Master Teachers was sent to all offices)

Conclusion

The R2.3bn will be utilized for the payment of the recognition of experience and Senior and Master Teachers. The criterion for identifying the senior and master teachers is contained in Resolution 5 of 2006. The said resolution is available on ELRC website and can be accessed from SADTU website link.