The wage dispute between the SABC's management and
employees has come to an end. Last week, Broadcasting, Electronic Media
and Allied Workers Union union members agreed to the 10% wage increase
and now Communication Workers Union (CWU) and Media Workers'
Association of South Africa (Mwasa) agreed on the same terms, according to a statement from the SABC.
The employees will be paid the 8.5% increase backdated to April 2009 and a further 1.5% which will be effected in December and also backdated to April.
“We are extremely elated as the SABC to have CWU and MWASA finally agree on the terms of our negotiations. We are proud. It was an enduring, torturously long negotiations and this agreement means that people will be paid within the next five days. The situation has been stabilised, now its time to work,†says South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) CEO Gab Mampone.
SABC staff embarked on their most vocal protest last month. They prevented non-striking employees from entering the SABC building in Auckland Park, Johannesburg, and threatened to block access to the studios of people due to be interviewed on SABC programmes.
During the strike, there were serious problems in national television and radio broadcasting when SABC staff walked off the job. The SABC’s popular Morning Live show started 14 minutes late on one occasion as a result of the workers downing tools. The unions initially demanded a 12.2% increase as agreed upon in a multi-term agreement but eventually settled for 10%.
