Cape Town - Public sector workers plan to embark on industrial action on Thursday if conciliation talks which end today are unsuccessful.
The conciliation talks follow the collapse of wage negotiations with the government.
Last week, the Public Servants Association of South Africa (PSA) rejected the government’s offer to public servants of a 3% salary adjustment and continuation of cash gratuity until March 31 next year.
The PSA filed a notice to strike on October 24 and can legally go on strike any time from Thursday, November 3.
PSA spokesperson Claude Naiker said: “The offer of a 3% salary increase was rejected as it did not meet the union’s demand of 6.5%.”
The PSA said in a statement: “Plans for the strike are under way as per the outcome of the ballot and mandating processes. The strike will be nationwide, and all PSA members are urged to participate as the government has shown nothing but disrespect to workers.”
Yesterday, workers affiliated to Nehawu and Denosa participated in a lunchtime picket outside Groote Schuur Hospital as part of what Cosatu provincial secretary Malvern de Bruyn referred to as “a build-up to a possible strike in the public sector”.
Speaking at yesterday’s hour-long picket, De Bruyn said: “We are here to support the public sector workers because as Cosatu, we are totally against the 3% that has been unilaterally offered by the minister.”
SACP Western Cape secretary Benson Ngqentsu, who was at the picket, said they were there in support of public sector workers.
He urged the government to respect collective bargaining and to see to it that workers were paid their salary increments as agreed.
“The cost of living is high and we know that the Bretton Woods institutions such as the IMF and the World Bank define social spending, education, health and salary increases as reckless and we reject that.”
