https://www.engineeringnews.co.za
Service
Service
service

Public wage talks: major union asks members to vote on first strike in 12 years

15th August 2022

By: News24Wire

  

Font size: - +

The Public Servants Association (PSA) will begin balloting its members this week on whether to commence with its first strike in over a decade as the public service wage talks grind on with little progress.

The last time the PSA went on strike in the public service was in 2010, demanding an 8.6% wage hike, having rejected government's 6.5% offer. That strike was successful.

Now, 12 years later, PSA is demanding a 6.5% wage increase as government offers unions a 2%. The PSA currently represents around 235 000 public sector employees. In 2020, the public service had an estimated 830 000 employees, including police officers and teachers.

A memo that Fin24 has seen from last week showed that the government would only be prepared to raise its baseline offer to 3% if it could introduce cost containment measures including early retirement without penalties, an exit mechanism for employees between the ages of 60 and 64, and voluntary severance packages, subject to an assessment of critical skills.

PSA spokesperson Reuben Maleka confirmed to Fin24 that the union would be undertaking the ballot process this week.

"Indeed, we are in the process to ballot our members with a possibility that we call out strike action. We should start before Friday," said Maleka.

Maleka told Fin24 that the PSA was not prepared to consider the government's conditions for a revised offer of 3%.

Meanwhile, the Police Prisons and Civil Rights Union (Popcru) said it resolved at its special national executive committee meeting last week that it would march to the Union Buildings in September to demand an increase that is "not less than 10%".

Popcru said its program of action would also include lunchtime pickets across all police stations, correctional centres, and traffic institutions. Popcru warned that if this is unsuccessful, the union will be left with "no option but to withdraw labour".

Edited by News24Wire

Comments

Showroom

Schauenburg SmartMine IoT
Schauenburg SmartMine IoT

SmartMine IoT has been developed with the mining industry in mind, to provides our customers with powerful business intelligence and data modelling...

VISIT SHOWROOM 
Booyco Electronics
Booyco Electronics

Booyco Electronics, South African pioneer of Proximity Detection Systems, offers safety solutions for underground and surface mining, quarrying,...

VISIT SHOWROOM 

Latest Multimedia

sponsored by

Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):

Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format

Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):

All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.

Already a subscriber?

Forgotten your password?

MAGAZINE & ONLINE

SUBSCRIBE

RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA

SUBSCRIBE

CORPORATE PACKAGES

CLICK FOR A QUOTATION







sq:0.09 0.147s - 176pq - 2rq
Subscribe Now