The public-sector strike could soon ”turn violent”, Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi warned on Monday.
Unions did not want the strike to continue unnecessarily, he told the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) national congress in Cape Town.
”We’re quite aware of the consequences of allowing the strike to prolong to the second and to the third week,” he said.
”Workers will soon be angry, they will be frustrated, and they will see anybody going to work, irrespective of how genuine their reasons are, as basically betraying their cause.
”And very soon the strike will turn violent.
”We don’t want that, and that is why we say to the government, our door is open [for more talks] this afternoon.”
Vavi said the 7,25% pay rise put forward by mediators, which has met with approval from the government, was not substantially different from the 6% the government had been offering for weeks.
”I think that the union movement is ready to engage but on the basis that [there] is a serious offer placed on the table by the government,” he said.
He said unions had revised their demand from 12% to 10% while the government was increasing its offer by barely noticeable increments.
He called for more decisive movement on the employer’s part.
”The government’s response to that is to just continuously increase the offer by 0,2%, 0,5%, 0,2%. That’s not how you act in order to resolve any strike action.”
He hoped the government would act decisively to avoid a planned general strike on Wednesday in support of the public-sector unions.
Earlier, Popcru president Zizamele Cebekhulu told the South African Press Association at the congress that police and prison staff would join the strike if the wage dispute was not resolved.
He said Popcru would give negotiators a week to come to an agreement.
”If they fail to solve it, we’re going to strike.”
He said Popcru members were also workers, concerned about their salaries, and did not want the dispute to go on forever.
”We’re not sitting here because we’re afraid to join them, but we’re saying we look at a variety of matters, protection of our society, the current rate of crime and we cannot give criminals a free lunch over our communities.”
It was only respect for the safety and security of South Africans that was holding Popcru back, he said.
Popcru has 120 000 members, just over half of them in the police.
Police and prison staff are classed as essential services workers, and are barred by law from going on strike.
Proposal
Earlier it was reported that the government is to consider a proposal put forward by mediators to increase public-service wages by 7,25%.
However, Cosatu said it would not agree to it.
”The government welcomes the proposal that the mediator in the public-sector wage negotiations has put forward — at the request of organised labour — to settle the current dispute,” Public Service and Administration Minister Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi said in a statement.
”We are currently considering the proposal … [we are] hopeful that the latest development will lead to a settlement,” she added.
Cosatu President Willie Madisha said the federation’s affiliated public-service unions ”won’t agree” to the proposal
”There are people who earn about R2 750 — if you say 7,25% it means it about R3 000 basically; still they cannot survive,” Madisha said.
He said considering the rising fuel and food prices, a 7,25% increase would actually mean a decrease in pay.
”We can not allow that, it is wrong,” he said.
Madisha said workers had lost R1-billion in wages since the start of the strike, but gave no details of how he arrived at the figure.
Cosatu and independent labour unions were meeting on Tuesday afternoon to discuss the mediators’ proposals.
Charles Nupen and Meshack Ravuku, who have been mediating the talks since Friday, drew up the document, which was handed to government and union negotiators late on Sunday night.
”We had an opportunity to be with both parties, to interact with them, and out of that we have come up with proposals that we believe will be able to appease the parties to reach settlement,” said Ravuku.
Negotiators were set to resume talks at the Public Sector Coordinating Bargaining Council on Tuesday.
Dismissal
Health workers have begun receiving letters of dismissal for defying a government ultimatum that they return to work, the Department of Health said on Monday.
Spokesperson Fidel Hadebe said his department was ”refining the statistics” and could not say exactly how many workers had been axed.
Those who had defied the government’s ultimatum issued a week would face dismissal, he said.
The move followed an announcement by Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang on Saturday.
Health workers were regarded as essential-service workers — prohibited from taking part in industrial action under the Labour Relations Act.
Moeketsi Mohai, general secretary of the South African Democratic Nurses’ Union (Sadnu), which is affiliated to Cosatu, said the government’s decision to dismiss striking nurses was ”shocking”.
”By implication these services are not essential. If the government can dismiss thousands of health workers, then the services can’t be essential,” he said.
”Clearly the position that the government has taken does not assist in resolving the situation, but only fuels it to levels of anarchy.”
He said if the government continued dismissing nurses, Sadnu would call on about 9 000 of its members who are continuing to render services in critical areas to join the strike. — Sapa