It's over, but there were no winners in the crippling 27-day public service strike as both government and labour had to compromise to put an end to the wage impasse.
The government could not put a figure to the amount, but said public servants would lose hundreds of millions of rands in salaries to be deducted over the next three months.
The government was forced to find R5,4-billion extra to move from its initial offer of a 5,3 percent to a 7,5 percent wage increase.
The government's chief wage negotiator, Kenny Govender, said they were relieved that the strike had been suspended, as it had also cost the government a lot in terms of service delivery.
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'Unions have criticised the government's negotiating tactics during this strike' He agreed with unions that there was no winner in the strike. "That is the nature of bargaining. We all compromised to reach an agreement," said Govender.
He said the government had to "re-prioritise" during the negotiation process - not an easy task.
"There is additional money in the wage bill now. We had to move monies around to reach 7.5 percent. We had to find additional money for housing allowances (from R242 to R500 a month) and, instead of spreading these allowances over three years, we are going to implement these increases this year. The government also moved the implementation of the teachers' package on the occupation-specific dispensation from next year to this year."
Unions and the government said they expected the public service to be back to normal from Friday and fully "effective" by Monday.
On Thursday public sector unions said showing a united front throughout the negotiation process and the strike - which had started on June 1 - had been "priceless".
National Professional Teachers' Organisation of SA president Dave Balt said: "More than just the agreement was achieved. The unity that labour showed was great and public support was enormous.
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