Strikers make SA wait a bit more

2010-09-03 22:33

Johannesburg - South Africa will have to wait through the weekend to find out if public servants start their fourth week of strikes on Monday or accept the government's latest wage offer.

Union leaders on Friday said they would explain the finer points of the government's revised pay offer to striking workers over the weekend.

Their members' initial rejection of the offer may have been based on incomplete information, the National Education Health and Allied Workers' Union (Nehawu) said.

Unions were hoping to have an answer for the government on Monday.

"We only gave ourselves one day to consult our members. They rejected it initially, but now we are saying why don't we give ourselves more time," National Education, Health and Allied Workers' Union (Nehawu) spokesperson Sizwe Pamla said.

"It is more about 'have we done justice to consultation?' The situation is: if members say 'go back to the street', we will go back to the street. But we don't want them to come back and say 'you never told us about the package'."

Other points of agreement

The 17-day strike has crippled service delivery, state hospitals, disrupted schooling ahead of matric exams and been marred by violence in parts of the country.

Unions believe the initial rejection of the government's latest offer was based on media reports which focused exclusively on the 7.5% pay hike and R800 a month housing allowance, against their basic demands of an 8.6% increase and a R1 000 housing allowance.

Agreements to discuss medical contributions and the implementation of the minimum service level requirements were among the other points, but these were not widely reported, Pamla said.

Nehawu felt it would be responsible to hold question and answer sessions with its members over the weekend before making a final reply.

The Public Service Commission (PSC) urged negotiators to find common ground with unions quickly, as the protracted strike had damaging consequences on service delivery.

It said the future of pupils, particularly matriculants, was being compromised.

Disgruntled workers continued marching in Johannesburg and Pretoria on Friday, while the government insisted that negotiators could not revise their offer again.

Workers returning to posts

Public Service Minister Richard Baloyi, who has said the government's latest offer would already force it to borrow money, told SABC radio it had no room to manoeuvre.

By 16:40 on Friday, government spokesperson Themba Maseko told Sapa no resolution had been reached. Meanwhile, military health workers and soldiers continued to fill empty posts at 62 hospitals around the country.

Health department spokesperson Fidel Hadebe said some workers had started returning to their posts.

"The situation is indeed beginning to improve. People are coming back to work, but there are still areas of great concern: issues of intimidation and sabotage."

At Johannesburg's Helen Joseph Hospital, strikers gathered at the Perth Street entrance, but unlike previously, did not block access.

Hospital spokesperson Lovey Mogapi said about 50% of the staff went on strike, but that some had returned to work, just not in uniform.

"People still come to the hospital, numbers in wards haven't changed. The strike hasn't stopped them (patients)," she said.

Learning camp for matrics

At the nearby Rahima Moosa Hospital, there were only a few strikers, but the gates were locked and soldiers visible. A security guard said he was still letting patients in, but the gates were locked to keep strikers out.

Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without borders) and children's organisation Kidz Clinic said the strike made it difficult for people, like young rape victims, to get treatment on time.

In many public schools, teachers had quietly returned to work, or had worked through the strike.

The Western Cape education department said schooling had been disrupted at 61 schools in the province. It was focusing on ensuring that matriculants at these schools were able to write their exams later in September.

The department was arranging a camp from September 23 to 30 to tutor matrics, and similar programmes from September 5 to November.
 

- SAPA