OWN CORRESPONDENT, Pretoria | Wednesday 6.50pm.
CIVIL service strikes hanging in the balance for days are set to go ahead on Thursday, as government negotiators argued they could not aford the unions 10% pay raise demand.
A spokesman for the South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu) the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) and the National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu) said nearly half the nation’s 1,1-million civil servants will strike on Thursday.
The unions plan to review the strike and its effects on Monday. “We will examine the situation to see if the government has moved closer to what we want,” Nehawu president Vusi Nhlapo said.
The three unions are all affiliated to the African National Congress government’s labour ally, the Congress of SA Trade Unions. Public Service and Administration Minister Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi earlier in the day said the government is not prepared to increase the R3,2-billion it has set aside for public service salary increases.
Stressing that the allocation of the R3,2-billion is still flexible, she said thre is room for further talks on that subject, adn called on labour leaders to come back to the table. Fraser-Moleketi’s concerns, outlined in print and at the bargaining table, are that more money for salaries means less service delivery.
Nhlapo agrees that continued talks are called for, but added: “For us negotiations mean discussions on an increase of the R3,2-billion.”
Two non-Cosatu unions — the Public Servants Association and the National Union of Public Service and Allied Workers — are also planning strike action.
Moleketi assured the public that basic and essential services will be provided during the labour action. Nhlapo, for his part, said Nehawu will ensure that sufficient staff in essential services remained on duty. “Essential workers will only strike where agreements have been reached about leaving minimum staff on duty,” he said.