In what both sides say is a last-ditch effort to find a solution, talks are back on in South Africa’s fraught Public Service pay dispute.
Unions are demanding a seven per cent wage increase while the Government is refusing to offer anything at all.
The Public Servants Association (PSA) and the Government have for weeks been trying to resolve their differences over salaries with unions fighting a Government decision to freeze salaries for three years.
Unions insist the Government has the capacity to pay something.
PSA spokesperson, Ruben Maleka (pictured) said the Government now had a chance to revise its offer “and we are open for negotiations”.
“We are hopeful that the employer is going to come up with a revised offer, and we are optimistic that when we leave the negotiations we will have something tangible that we can take to our members,” Mr Maleka said.
“However, if the talks fail again we will have no choice other than to take action that forces the Government to listen to us,” he said.
Earlier, a Government source said it was still possible for a nationwide public sector strike to be averted.
Should the deadlock continue unions have said they will start the process of issuing a strike notice with more than 200,000 public sector employees expected to down tools.
Pretoria, 12 May 2021
