OSD to be paid in full
25 November 2009
Patience, consistency and collective leadership in the South African Democratic Teachers Union (SADTU) have finally paid off; OSD will be implemented in full before Christmas. After months of waiting, teachers will finally receive their Occupation Specific Dispensation (OSD), not partially, but in full. SADTU leadership collectively, did not rest but continued to fight in order to secure the full amount in the current financial year as opposed to the initial proposal of 1st April 2010.
In October 2009, the Department of Education (DoE) offered to make a R2, 3billion partial payment of OSD for Recognition of Experience and a once-off cash bonus for Senior and Master teachers by 30 October 2009.
However, the payment was not made due to pressure on the payment system (PERSAL) to implement the annual salary increase. The employer promised to pay at the end of the salary increase run in November but could not commit to a specific date.In order to try to get further commitment on the date of payment, yesterday (24 November) SADTU sent letters of demand to the DoE and DPSA for a written undertaking.
In response, the department announced it would pay for the full agreement in the current financial year. This would therefore mean that the partial payment would not be implemented by the end of November. PERSAL would be loaded on 14 December 2009 for payment on 18 December2009 for the Recognition of experience, pay progression(3%) backdated to 1st July 2009 and once-off 3% bonus for the senior and master teachers. The supplementary payment for the upgrade of teachers (those with REQV10 -12) would occur on 24 December 2009.
Describing the latest offer, SADTU general secretary Mugwena Maluleke said it was a vindication to other opportunistic organisations who tried to claim easy victories on the processes that led to the signing of the OSD agreement by spreading lies and didnt append their signatures to the agreement.
“We are aware, our members nearly lost patience in the process but we want to assure them that in the end, SADTU has come out victorious,” Maluleke said. We would like to thank our members who remained committed to the union by supporting the leadership in our endeavour to close this chapter on OSD.
SADTU is the largest union in the public service with 246,280 members and represents two-thirds of teachers.
Issued by: SADTU Secretariat