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South African State Workers Continue Strike While Weighing New Wage Offer
Two of South Africa’s biggest public-sector unions rejected a government wage offer while other labor leaders continued talks to decide whether to end a 15-day strike that has closed schools and disrupted hospitals and courts.
The National Education, Health and Allied Workers Union and the South African Democratic Teachers Union, with about 250,000 members each, both said they wouldn’t accept the wage offer. The 9,200-member South African Democratic Nurses Union also voted to reject the proposal, said Freddie Mohau, the union’s general secretary.
“The strike continues as we stand,” Mohau said by telephone from Johannesburg today. “We felt because the other unions had not exhausted the consultation process yet, we should reconvene tomorrow. We want to maintain the unity we have always had as unions.”
Nurses, teachers and other state workers went on strike on Aug. 18 after the government rejected their demands to raise wages by 8.6 percent and double their monthly housing allowances to 1,000 rand ($137).
On Aug. 30, the government offered to pay 7.5 percent increases and 800 rand housing allowances to stop the strike from spreading to gold and platinum mines, saying it couldn’t afford more if it is to increase access to services. South Africa’s inflation rate is currently 3.7 percent.
Government Offer
“Our members are very clear on what they want,” Nehawu spokesman Sizwe Pamla said by telephone from Pretoria, adding that the union may still be bound by the government offer if the majority of other labor groups accept it.
Salaries for South Africa’s 1.3 million state workers account for about a third of state spending. The new offer will probably add an additional 7 billion rand to the public wage bill, Johannesburg-based Business Day reported today, citing Public Service and Administration Minister Richard Baloyi.
“It’s very difficult to predict” what the unions will decide, Leon Gilberts, national manager of the 211,000-member Public Servants Association, said by phone from Pretoria. “There is a possibility that they may decide to suspend the strike” to give unions more time to canvass the views of their members.
Government employees last struck in 2007, when schools, hospitals and immigration offices were disrupted for 29 days, the longest-ever walkout by state workers.
The National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa, representing 70,000 workers at gas stations and car component manufacturers, went on strike today after employers rejected their demand for a 15 percent pay increase. The Retail Motor Industry Organisation and the Fuel Retailers Association are offering a 6 percent raise.
Steel Mill
Africa’s largest stainless steel mill, run by a unit of Spain’s Acerinox SA, is facing a strike over pay after two South African labor unions rejected the company’s latest wage offer.
Workers at Columbus Stainless Pty Ltd., based in South Africa’s Mpumalanga province, are set to go on strike after NUMSA issued the company with a strike notice, Columbus said in an e-mailed statement today.
To contact the reporters on this story: Franz Wild in Johannesburg at fwild@bloomberg.net; Mike Cohen in Cape Town at mcohen21@bloomberg.net.
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