BRYAN PEARSON, Pretoria | Thursday 6.15pm
RENEWED talks on Thursday aimed at resolving a wage dispute between the government and 12 public sector unions failed, a union spokesman said.
“Not much happened,” said Boas Mojetsi, vice president of the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union. “The government negotiators seemed to have come unprepared and had no mandate to improve their salary offer.”
Mojetse told the Sapa news agency the unions raised a number of issues for which the state negotiators have no mandate. The two parties have agreed to meet again on Monday.
He said the unions had entered into Thursday’s talks with the impression that the current pay dispute was the only item on the agenda. But state negotiators wanted to discuss issues such as the structure of future wage talks.
“We reiterated that the current dispute has to be resolved before any other matter could be addressed,” he said. Thursday’s meeting came after the unions, representing 1,1-million public sector workers, agreed last week to give the government one last shot at resolving the eight-month-old dispute.
The pay disagreement saw thousands of disgruntled public servants taking to the streets in major centres on Tuesday last week in the first public sector strike involving all 12 unions.
The state has said it cannot afford union demands for a 7,3% pay rise for public workers and 8,3% for teachers. It has offered a 6,3% wage rise. Labour leaders have threatened to stage an indefinite strike if the pay dispute is not resolved. — AFP