“They are still in the hearing at the moment,” said CCMA official Danielle Martin.<\/p>\n
Communication Workers Union (CWU) negotiator Vulture Ntukuli said the dispute revolved around the national broadcaster’s revision of a pay agreement, in which it cited its financial problems and the global economic climate.<\/p>\n
They were to have implemented a multi-term agreement where union members would receive a 12.2 percent increase.<\/p>\n
But the agreement was not implemented and it appeared that 2.2 percent would also have been shaved off it.<\/p>\n
Ntukuli said they had tried to resolve the matter internally, asking for meetings, but eventually, after a letter to acting chief executive officer Gab Mampone they were told that the SABC would invoke an escape clause that was built into the agreement. <\/p>\n
In terms of the escape clause, they could reopen negotiations if the consumer price index (CPI) which indicates the inflation rate, dropped below 4 percent or went above 8 percent. Inflation came in at 8.4 percent for April. <\/p>\n
The CWU is also upset that this decision was taken without discussing it with the unions first.<\/p>\n
Two other unions – the Broadcast, Electronic Media and Allied Workers’ Union and the Media Workers Association of SA – were reportedly also participating in the CCMA meeting, but were not immediately available for comment.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Communications Minister Siphiwe Nyanda and President Jacob Zuma met over the weekend to discuss the crisis with the SABC’s board.<\/p>\n
This came after Nyanda informed the remaining four board members at a meeting on Friday that because they did not make a quorum they could not make executive decisions. They were also told that the appointment of Ashwin Trikamjee as interim chairman did not count as only Zuma could make an appointment.<\/p>\n
At the same time, the communications department and the Treasury are discussing the company’s financial crisis.<\/p>\n
Mampone has said that they will need at least R2 billion to solve their financial problems.<\/p>\n