Municipal workers to strike

MickeyD said:
Managers and millions....

Just how many really earn millions?

FACTS?
Click to expand...

Managers in the private sector? Very few. Managers in the public sector? A little more than the private sector but then again, the public sector pays more in general than the private sector in SA.

Now directors on the other hand, that's another ballgame and has absolutely buggerall to do with any bloody union member.

There was a report out on Bloomberg the other day that I read which eloquently put this all into context - can't find it right now...
 
MickeyD said:
Managers and millions....

Just how many really earn millions?

FACTS?
Click to expand...

Eskom

Finance director Paul O'Flaherty took home 346% more at R4.9 million. I wonder what the eskom worker got, inflation? :p

Last year

He said union members were also angry because of how managers had received "large salary hikes", while ordinary workers had not had increases "at all in more than a year". Saawu, which represents 18 water boards, could not immediately be reached for comment.

I would have to say giving management much higher hikes can only lead to strikes surely?
 
Last edited:
DJ... said:
Managers in the private sector? Very few. Managers in the public sector? A little more than the private sector but then again, the public sector pays more in general than the private sector in SA.

Now directors on the other hand, that's another ballgame and has absolutely buggerall to do with any bloody union member.

There was a report out on Bloomberg the other day that I read which eloquently put this all into context - can't find it right now...
Click to expand...
Here again you need to separate the professional appointments from the deployed cadres (municipal managers, department directors, etc.).
 
killadoob said:
Eskom

Finance director Paul O'Flaherty took home 346% more at R4.9 million. I wonder what the eskom worker got, inflation? :p
Click to expand...
Sorry, you are in the wrong thread. This is MUNICIPALITIES we are referring to, not parastatals or state owned enterprises.
 
Mike Hoxbig said:
He's a director. How many managers in Eksdom earn millions?
Click to expand...

No idea i am just pulling a few things off the web that show higher management and the like taking home fat hikes while the workers get screwed :D.

I cannot find out how much more the managers got. I know it is not the same thing mickey but it is all i can find haha.
 
killadoob said:
Eskom

Finance director Paul O'Flaherty took home 346% more at R4.9 million. I wonder what the eskom worker got, inflation? :p

Last year

He said union members were also angry because of how managers had received "large salary hikes", while ordinary workers had not had increases "at all in more than a year". Saawu, which represents 18 water boards, could not immediately be reached for comment.

I would have to say giving management much higher hikes can only lead to strikes surely?
Click to expand...

Do you have any idea what REMCO's negotiations were? Were the workers responsible for securing billions in financing within the time-frame required? Do you have any idea what kind of a job that is? Do you have any idea how important that was to the company? In these types of situations, they usually add a performance bonus (instead of increasing the salary) based on securing financing at preferential terms. This is nothing to do with the workers and they would have dweet diddly squat idea about it. More than just that, he is a director, not a manager...
 
killadoob said:
I know it is not the same thing mickey but it is all i can find haha.
Click to expand...

Why do you think that is? I'll tell you, it doesn't make the news because the managers don't earn millions.

This is the problem - these workers (while no fault of their own) do not understand the difference between a manager and a director, yet they believe themselves qualified enough to discuss issues of a REMCO nature and demand increases based on director salaries. Like I said, it's preposterous...
 
killadoob said:
No idea i am just pulling a few things off the web that show higher management and the like taking home fat hikes while the workers get screwed :D.

I cannot find out how much more the managers got. I know it is not the same thing mickey but it is all i can find haha.
Click to expand...
Nothing against you (playing the ball, not the man) but that is exactly what the unions do. They will find one or two examples that aren't even relevant to the sector involved and then hold it up as EVIDENCE.

In my dealings with unions, I normally write down what they are ranting about and then ask them, per rant, to give me the FACTS. In 90% of the cases, they cannot.
 
DJ... said:
No they simply don't. When they talk about managers, they're talking about highly qualified people in these sectors. They've been brainwashed to believe that everyone should share equally in the profits which is just ridiculous. Although I agree to a certain extent, all government workers are overpaid...
Click to expand...

But with the poor managment that often happens (look at the shambles lots of municiplaties are in), obviously the managers arent quality or worth the money paid to them?
 
supersunbird said:
But with the poor managment that often happens (look at the shambles lots of municiplaties are in), obviously the managers arent quality or worth the money paid to them?
Click to expand...

For sure, but that's another issue altogether. They're bringing up the principle...
 
supersunbird said:
But with the poor managment that often happens (look at the shambles lots of municiplaties are in), obviously the managers arent quality or worth the money paid to them?
Click to expand...
The lower level workers aren't exactly shining stars either, so it balances out.
 
DJ... said:
In a country where unemployment is rife, this notion that we need to compare low-end, unskilled workers' salaries with highly skilled directors and managers is absolutely batty. We have a minimum wage law for a reason - to protect the worker from exploitation. That in itself is enough, regardless of the fact that I disagree with minimum wage in itself. All of your arguments are based on assumption though.

Explain to me why anyone whose job description has not changed, who is unskilled and therefore not making a fundamental bottom line difference to the upside and who already receives above minimum wage in an unemployment-rife country deserves anything more than an inflation-related increase?
Click to expand...

The basket used to determine inflation is skewed and definetly not realistic for low income workers, so that is why they need to strike for more than "official" inflation..
 
Last edited:
supersunbird said:
The basket used to determine inflation is skewed and definetly not realistic for low income workers, so that is why they need to strike for more than "official" inflation..
Click to expand...

Even if this is true, until we start to track CPI-W, CPI is broad enough to gauge overall market inflation at all levels. Otherwise they're striking for unquantifiable levels. I'd have no problem with a CPI-W related increase, however I'm not convinced that the difference would be consequential...
 
DJ... said:
No they simply don't. When they talk about managers, they're talking about highly qualified people in these sectors. They've been brainwashed to believe that everyone should share equally in the profits which is just ridiculous. Although I agree to a certain extent, all government workers are overpaid...
Click to expand...

I don't think highly qualified and ANC municipal managers goes together :p

WRT the private sector I do agree though.

In the private sector management have to deal with a ton of issues. The striking (mostly uneducated)workers only have to deal with simple tasks.
 
DigitalSoldier said:
I don't think highly qualified and ANC municipal managers goes together :p

WRT the private sector I do agree though.

In the private sector management have to deal with a ton of issues. The striking (mostly uneducated)workers only have to deal with simple tasks.
Click to expand...
Do not combine highly qualified professionals required to keep the wheels turning with political appointees. You need mechanical engineers, electrical engineers, civil engineers, etc. to build/maintain an effective infrastructure.
 
DJ... said:
Inflation is 5%. By striking absolutely every single year for double inflation (and often quadruple inflation) increases, they are royally fscking up the economy. A government is not a profit generating institution - this money has to come from somewhere - the average Joe on the street (including them to a lesser extent though.)

I know for a fact that this is the argument the unions are selling to their members - strike for higher wages because the white man earns too much. We will take it from him. It's just getting beyond a joke now...
Click to expand...

What does the CPI index include these days? Does it include the the increase in transportation and electricity and if so are the weights for these items fair? I'm just wondering if the CPI can still be used as a real world measure of inflation...
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X