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/ 7 September 2010
The African National Congress wanted the two-week public service strike to have been "called off" rather than merely "suspended".
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/ 6 September 2010
Public service unions were expected to announce on Monday if a new wage offer had been accepted which would end the national strike.
The African National Congress-led tripartite alliance was not collapsing, President Jacob Zuma said in Durban on Friday.
Striking public-service unions held a second day of meetings on Friday as an impasse between government and workers dragged on.
The 1,3-million workers who rejected the government’s wage offer appear to have sent a loud "no!" not just to the state but to trade union leaders.
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/ 2 September 2010
The strike continued on Thursday with the Cosatu and Independent Labour Caucus declaring a "preliminary" rejection of the government’s pay offer.
The Cabinet has urged public-service wage negotiators to urgently find an amicable and win-win solution to the strike.
The public-sector strike is set to continue after unions late on Wednesday rejected a revised government wage offer.
Cosatu has suspended its planned solidarity strike to give unions time to consult members on the government’s latest pay offer, it said on Wednesday.
State workers will vote on Tuesday on an increased wage offer made by the government to try to end a nearly three-week-old strike, Cosatu said.
President Jacob Zuma has instructed all the ministers in the public-service sector to return to the negotiating table in an attempt to end the strike.
Members of the South African Security Forces Union (Sasfu) will not join the public-sector strike, union president Bhekinkosi Mvovo said on Sunday.
President Jacob Zuma on Saturday accused striking state workers of abandoning the sick at hospitals and said he expected a deal to be reached soon.
There have been no new wage talks between public-service unions and the government, the Congress of South African Trade Unions said on Friday.
The strike by state employees marks the lowest point in relations between the ANC and Cosatu since President Jacob Zuma took leadership of the party.
Cosatu on Thursday warned that its alliance with the ANC is "dysfunctional" because of "confusion" over power.
Thousands of striking public servants took to the streets in mass marches countrywide on Thursday, vowing to continue with a disruptive strike.
Plans by Cosatu to stage a solidarity strike triggered a chorus of warnings from politicians on Wednesday.
South Africa’s week-long public-service strike has strained President Jacob Zuma’s ties with leftist allies who helped propel him to power.
Cosatu has threatened a total shutdown of the economy with a secondary strike if government fails to settle its dispute with workers by next Thursday.
Public-service unions on Tuesday accused the government of creative accounting, as the state urged workers to reconsider its wage offer.
The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) on Saturday reaffirmed its support for the ongoing public-service strike.
The public servants’ strike will step up a gear on Thursday, despite government’s protestations that it doesn’t have the cash for an improved offer.
Business organisations have called for the speedy resolution of a national public-service strike that started on Wednesday.
Cosatu secretary general Zwelinzima Vavi criticised the proposed Protection of Information Bill during the Ruth First memorial lecture on Tuesday.
Public-sector workers embarked on a full-blown, indefinite strike on Wednesday after rejecting the government’s latest pay offer.
The government on Thursday night increased its housing allowance offer to public servants, but would not budge on its 7% salary offer.
Unions representing more than one million civil servants and the government plan wage talks on Thursday, hours before a union deadline.
Public-sector unions representing more than a million workers staged a one-day strike on Tuesday, threatening an extended labour stoppage this week.
Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima took a potshot at President Jacob Zuma’s salary as civil servants protested outside the gates of Parliament.
A smattering of striking public-service employees began to march from Schubart Park to the Union Buildings in Pretoria on Tuesday morning.
More than a million public-sector workers plan to strike on Tuesday in what could be a prelude to prolonged industrial action.