Public sector unions get ready for strike action

LABOUR groups representing South African civil servants plan to notify the government next week of their intention to go on strike, a move that will ratchet up tensions in a stand-off over wage increases.

Pay talks reached an impasse last year when the government rejected union demands for 10% raises, and unilaterally implemented a 3% hike.

While Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana is set to table the annual budget on Feb. 22 that will make an allocation for personnel costs over the next three financial years, negotiations on a deal covering that period have yet to get underway.

The strike notice will be issued on the same day Godongwana delivers his budget speech, eight unions that are affiliated to the Congress of South African Trade Unions, the country’s biggest labour group, said at a briefing in Pretoria on Thursday.

“We are of a view that the employer is not interested in