SOUTH AFRICA
South Africa’s main Public Service union says it has lost patience with the Government over stalled pay talks and will ballot its members for strike action.
Deputy General Manager of the Public Servants Association (PSA), Tahir Maepa said the Government had “plunged the Public Service into total collapse”.
“This is a sad day, when the Government fails to comprehend the dire consequences of this non-resolution,” Mr Maepa said.
It has been reported the Government’s final offer was for a 7 per cent increase at junior salary levels and 6 per cent for senior staff, approximately 2 per cent above the estimated Consumer Price Index (CPI) of 5.2 per cent.
Unions are demanding wage increases of between 10 per cent and 12 per cent, the abolition of lower salary levels and the delinking of housing allowances when both spouses work in the public sector.
The current wage deal lapsed on 31 March; negotiations for a new one have been in progress since October.
“The employers indicated that they would not improve the offer, with a hope that other unions will sign the deal that is on the table,” Mr Maepa said.
That seems unlikely, with the National Education, Health and Allied Workers Union (NEHAWU) saying it is not ready to sign up to the deal.
NEHAWU said its members were “extremely unhappy with the offer”.
“To accept it, as it is, will be a great loss,” NEHAWU said.
Pretoria, 16 May 2018
