Public servants need lessons in basic economics
3 March 2021
The continuing insistence of public service unions on a 7% pay increase, 4% above inflation, for their members, has people in the private sector shaking their heads in disbelief.
Most private-sector employees know that their pay depends on the success of the business that employs them. They know it’s suicidal to insist on high salary increases – or indeed any increase at all – when the business is on the edge of bankruptcy.
How does one explain such apparent lunacy?
The most obvious one lies in public service hiring practices. They have been subverted by ideology. Balancing the racial composition of the public service was needed but it has too often downplayed the skills demanded resulting in corruption of the original intent of the post-1995 policy.