SA to be hit with another nationwide strike as 4 unions prepare to ‘down tools’

It looks like South Africa will face another major strike this month as public sector workers are set to strike in the coming weeks.

This would be the second nationwide strike the country faced in the span of a few months.

Nehawu, nurses union Denosa, police and prisons union Popcru and health union Hospersa have all been given certificates of non-resolution and may go on strike.

This was after major wage negotiations with the Public Service Coordinating Bargaining Council (PSCBC) failed to achieve any resolution.

It has been reported the The Public Servants Association will go on strike next week.

WAGE DEAL PROPOSED BY GOVERNMENT

Acting Public Service and Administration Minister Thulas Nxesi has offered public servants a 3% wage offer, with a R1 000 gratuity payment until March, according to eNCA.

This wage increase was illustrated in Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana's medium-term budget. He said the public service wage bill would increase by 3.1%.

WE WANT 10%

Nehawu's spokesperson Lwazi Nkolonzi has called for a 10% wage increase, according to Jacaranda FM.

"We have reverted back to our initial demands of 10%, but we had said to the employer at the negotiations to try and cushion workers against the inflation rate. So anything above the CPI is the starting point, and that's where we were moving, and the employer was not willing to budge on that,“ Nkolonzi said.

“They were still arrogant, still saying that they have no money and that they are still offering 3%, and our members are not willing to accept that. Our members are still adamant that anything above inflation rate then they will start talking and consider that as a reasonable offer from the employer, but the employer is still adamant on 3%."

TRANSNET STRIKE

SA dealt with a strike last month as thousands of Transnet workers downed tools. The strike had a crippling effect on the economy and South Africa’s ability to move goods and services.

According to industry experts, the strike prevented the transportation of an estimated R65.3 billion worth of goods.

The country’s economy and countless sectors, which depend on Transnet, recorded large losses as a result of the industrial action.

This included the South African Association of Freight Forwarders, which said its members had incurred logistics costs of nearly R7 billion as a result of the strike.

The association said South Africa lost the opportunity of moving R65.3bn worth of goods.

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