Johannesburg - Cosatu-affiliated trade unions, such as Nehawu, nurses union, Denosa, police and prisons union Popcru and health union Hospersa, on Tuesday were issued with a strike certificate to join public servants union, PSA, after marathon wage talks failed to resolve the issues at the Public Service Coordinating Bargaining Council (PSCBC).
Some of these unions took to the street this week in protest against the 3% wage increase offer by acting Public Service and Administration Minister Thulas Nxesi, who invoked Section 5 of the Public Service Act to implement a 3% wage increase in the public service.
Last week, this offer was reaffirmed by Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana during his medium-term budget policy statement, which projected growth averaging 3.1% per year in the public service wage bill.
Workers belonging to these unions have been picketing outside the offices of the PSCBC offices in Centurion since Monday.
Following this, Nehawu's spokesperson Lwazi Nkolonzi said the union will now embark on a development plan for a possible strike from next week.
"We have received a strike certificate, but we are then going to embark on a process which will culminate into a programme of action being developed. The Cosatu joint mandating committee is going to be meeting all the Cosatu public service unions that have received the certificate of strike. We will then embark on a program that will be guided by what members are saying," Nkolozi said.
The South African Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu) spokesperson Trevor Shaku said they also reject the offer made by the government, which is why they endorsed this week's protests which have been held by various union groups across the country.
"We are rejecting and are opposed to the 3% wage increase offered by the government. We feel that the right platform for this to be communicated is at the public service coordinating bargaining council, which is the right structure to do that. By them approving an increment agreement, is an undermining of the collective bargaining structures of this country. These are not just collective bargaining structures. They are established in accordance with the laws of this country and the labour relations act, in particular, which, of course, is underpinned by the South African Constitution. So they are undermining not only the structure but also, they are undermining the laws of this country by imposing a budget that is not in the interests of the people but that of the capital," Shaku told The Star.
Both PSA and Saftu said they would be joining the picket lines that will start on Thursday (3 November) outside public institutions in several provinces across the country, which will be followed by a mass-scale march next week Thursday (10 November 2022).
“We will start our programme of action by picketing during lunchtime in the various provinces. This will culminate with a march that will take place on 10 November towards all our provinces where we have offices. And then this will lead to a full-blown strike action,” said PSA spokesperson Claude Naicker in an interview with Newzroom Afrika.
The Star