Wage talks between the government and public service unions failed on Thursday night, edging the country closer to a strike possibly involving over a million public servants.
”Of course it’s [the strike] going to happen. We are so serious about our demand. A 12% wage increase would do a lot to make the public service, especially essential services like teaching and nursing, attractive,” said Don Pasquallie, spokesperson for public service unions affiliated to the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu).
However, he said Cosatu would seek political intervention from various ministries and even the Presidency to ”see to what extent we can divert such massive disruptions to service delivery”.
Should that fail, industrial action would follow which could grind all public services to a halt. It affects nurses, teachers, policemen, Correctional Services and Home Affairs officials.
Wage talks at the Public Service Coordinating Bargaining Council (PSCBC) continued late into the night on Thursday -‒ the last day for negotiations between the government and the public service unions as the 30 days since the unions declared a dispute have expired.
Government did not budge from its 6% wage increase offer compared to the unions’ demand for 12% hike.
After consulting with Public Service and Administration Minister Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi, the government negotiators returned to the council empty-handed.
”They wasted time since 2 o’clock only to indicate that they had no new offer,” Pasquallie said.
A certificate had been issued by the conciliator declaring that a resolution between the parties had not been reached, he said.
The certificate allowed a protected strike.
Pasquallie said the union’s demand remained a 12% increase to be implemented from April 1, a single term agreement, a increase in the homeowners’ allowance and improvement of medical aid benefits for all government employees. – Sapa