ELLIS MNYANDU, Pretoria | Tuesday 8.00pm
PRESIDENT Thabo Mbeki said on Tuesday there is no way his administration could accede to public service union demands for higher pay as there are other pressing issues in need of government funding.
Mbeki said his government’s focus is on the country’s reconstruction.
”Nobody is saying anything about national defence, one of the things we need to look at, the building of schools and clinics,” Mbeki said in his first public reaction to the eight-month pay dispute. ”There are constraints which mean we’re not going to meet each and every demand…and there are many competing demands with regards to public finances. But we want to continue to interact with the unions on this issue,” he added.
But the public service unions, representing more than a million government workers, vowed earlier on Tuesday to embark on further strike action next month to press their demands.
Paddy Padayachee, a spokesman for the 12 unions, said the unions are currently in consultation to garner support from various union federations, including the Congress of South African Trade Unions — which forms a tripartite alliance with the ANC and South African Communist Party.
Last week the government refused to meet more union demands, saying it had no more money to offer in the pay dispute.
”This action will not be about the unions trying to save face. It’s about survival,” Padayachee said. The unions expect to announce their programme of action by Friday this week, he said.
”The government has undermined the whole wage bargaining process and our intention is to shut down not only the public service but other sections of the economy, and that will just be a start,” he added. — Reuters