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Media Release

11 March, 2005


Dispute on teacher salary progression resolved

The parties to the ELRC, namely the Department of Education and teacher unions SADTU, NAPTOSA, SAOU and NATU, today reached a settlement agreement on the outstanding matter of salary progression for teachers, for the period 1996 to 2002.

The agreement provides for notch increases of up to 3% for teachers who were in service during the period 1996 to 2002, and who did not see any improvement in their salaries during that time, and similar cash bonuses for those who were promoted during the same period. The agreement notes that additional funds have been made available to pay the cash bonuses; over and above the R500 million originally budgeted for the notch increases. An all-party task team has been established to monitor the implementation of this agreement to ensure that teachers receive their money as soon as possible.

In signing this agreement parties have committed themselves to developing a comprehensive proposal on the utilisation of additional funds over the next three years to improve productivity and performance within the education sector and to enhance the morale of teachers. This includes addressing concerns around scarce skills, and the need to recruit and retain educators with such skills, to develop and implement the agreed upon new career-pathing system for teachers, removing any anomalies which exist in this regard, and to develop a model for the provision of human resource support to educators. It was agreed that a comprehensive proposal in this regard will be tabled by 30th July this year, so that implementation can commence in this financial year..

The Department of Education and the leadership of the teacher unions expressed appreciation that this matter has been resolved, and pledged to focus on the need for a comprehensive package of new initiatives designed to improve the quality of public education.

Contact persons:

  Department of Education

  Mr Tommy Makhode, Media Liaison Officer, Ministry of Education
  Tel: 082 566 0446

  Union representatives

  SADTU
    W Madisha    082 783 2967
    F Hugo    082 553 4010
    S Pardesi    082 555 2488

  NAPTOSA
    Dave Balt    083 450 5555

  NATU
    Bongani Mpungose    082 433 3073

  SAOU
    Kobus Pieterse    012 807 6244


Issued by:
Education Labour Relations Council
Enquiries:  Mr Dhaya Govender
Tel: 012 663 7446


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