Unisa strike spreads

2010-06-24 17:21

Johannesburg - A strike by Nehawu members over wages at the University of SA (Unisa) spread to other provinces on Thursday, the union said.

Hundreds of employees protested outside the university's head office in Pretoria on Wednesday.

"Staff in other campuses in Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and Limpopo have joined the strike," National Education, Health and Allied Workers' Union spokesperson Sizwe Pamla said.

"We are still waiting for feedback from the other provinces."

Nehawu declared a dispute after Unisa refused its demand of a 12% across-the-board annual salary increment.

The university has offered 8.5%.

The protest, involving academic and support staff, moved from the Pretoria head office to the Sunnyside campus on Thursday morning after management told the union it had only agreed to Wednesday's strike.

"We don't know what they are talking about because we did not apply for a day's strike.

"The strike is continuing and spreading to other parts of the country."

Claim disputed

Pamla said the union was trying to get management to address workers and explain their stand on the salary issues.

"The salary negotiations have been going on since the beginning of the year and management cannot hide away when workers are still unhappy six months down the line."

Pamla said the strike would impact negatively on the running of the university because Nehawu represented about 50% of Unisa staff, a claim disputed by the university.

Unisa spokesperson Lehuma Ntuane said the union only represented 27% of staff and services were expected to run smoothly throughout the strike.

"We are considering getting a court interdict to stop the strike," Ntuane said.

The "no work no pay" principle applied.

Police were asked to ensure the institution's property was safe and that non-striking workers were not intimidated by strikers.

- SAPA