The South African Democratic Teachers' Union (SADTU) in the Western Cape rejects, with the contempt it deserves, the Western Cape Education Department's (WCED)'s proposal to reduce the 2025 basket of educator posts.
While the WCED maintains that they consulted trade unions on the basket of posts for 2025, as required by policy, SADTU rejected the declaration of the basket. We maintain that the consultation was insufficient and meaningless because the employer did not consider any saving mechanisms proposed by labour to save the current post basket. The WCED communicated their intention to reduce the post basket from the current 37 135 to 34 728, which is a decrease of 2 407 posts. WCED's motivation for the reduction is based on the results of the 2024 fiscal outlook due to the cut in the WCED education budget, where National Treasury funded only 64% of the Compensation for Employees which resulted in a shortfall of R3,8 billion over the 2024 MTEF.
While we acknowledge the reduction of the WCED budget, we believe that the employer did not explore all areas where they could reduce spending. SADTU propose the halting of the Back on Track program for 2025 as only benefits a fraction of the learners who were experienced learning losses during the Covid-19 lockdown period. We also proposed the suspension of the Annual Systemic Evaluation which costs millions of rands for 2025 as the department has sufficient data to inform interventions needed to improve on educational outcomes.
The poor working-class communities will bear the brunt of the reduction of the posts' basket. It is a well-known fact that quality public education is the only way out for the poor to escape the cycle of poverty. Education remains one of the key areas that will address the current financial meltdown in the country, and as a union we have a firm belief that Cost Containment measures should never be applied to social services that are rendered to the citizens of this country.
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Cutting the number of educator posts contradicts WCED's Five-Year strategy on the conviction that every child has the right to a quality education to optimize opportunities to change lives and build a better future for themselves. Cutting the number of educator posts will have dire consequences for the poor working-class schools that are already overcrowded and cannot afford to employ additional School Governing Body (SGB) staff. Overcrowded classrooms will affect the wellbeing of teachers and result in an increase in disciplinary challenges at schools.
The challenge of access to education will be increased as there is no budget for learners who migrate from other provinces. The brunt of WCED decisions to cut the number of posts will be borne by the vulnerable poor working-class children who, by far, are black (So called colored and African), and this will increase the already existing gap between the poor and those who can afford to pay.
SADTU declared a dispute at the Education Labour Relations Council based insufficient and meaningless consultation, as well as on Section 28 and the Children's Act regarding the paramount rights of children in any decision that will impact on them.
