Durban — Public Servants Association (PSA) and National Education Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu) workers have vowed to shut down South African Revenue Service (Sars) offices until their demands are met.
Workers across the country downed tools on Tuesday after Sars refused to budge from the 1.3% it had offered to workers as their increase. Workers in the main KwaZulu-Natal Sars office in Durban closed it down and threw debris at the entrances.
Nehawu deputy secretary Ntokozo Nxumalo told the Daily News that workers rejected the insulting 1.3% that Sars was offering, saying workers had directed the leadership to lead them into the protest.
He vowed that they would never return to work unless the employer met their demand. Nxumalo said as workers they had decided to take advantage of the beginning of the tax season, when people were busy filing their returns.
“We got the Sars commissioner at his weakest point. We know he has to meet the target of revenue collection set out by the Treasury, so we felt we must use this as our bargaining tool,” said Nxumalo.
He said when they went on strike in May, the employer was offering 0%, but had to call off the strike after the employer went to revise the offer.
“Last week Sars came with 1.3%, which we regarded as an insult to workers.”
He added that initially workers demanded 10%, but were willing to meet the employer halfway – but would not accept 1.3%.
Nxumalo further accused the government of paying Eskom employees a 7% increase, an institution that was “collapsing”, while Sars had done very well in revenue collection, which he said President Cyril Ramaphosa alluded to during his State of the Nation Address earlier this year.
PSA union manager in KZN Mlungisi Ndlovu said his union was demanding a 7% plus the consumer price index (CPI) percentage of last year, which was 5.9%. He added that besides the CPI percentage, their demands were the same as Nehawu’s as they jointly downed tools.
In a statement issued by (Sars) on Tuesday, it noted that the unions had indicated their intention to remain on strike until the wage offer was improved.
“The dispute arose because of trade unions’ rejection of the available R70 million for baseline increases for bargaining unit employees.
“Sars has communicated that it does not decide on its own funding, but is dependent on an annual allocation made through a process managed by the National Treasury. The demand by labour of CPI plus 7% is simply unaffordable until Sars receives further funding,” read the statement.
Sars said that the first day of industrial action had seen minimal disruption to its services. While some of its branches had to close down due to the absence of staff, it warned people to avoid coming to Sars offices.
“Sars appeals to labour to remain peaceful in their protest, and to respect picketing rules as specified in the CCMA Picketing Rules.”
Daily News