JOHANNESBURG, June 4 (Reuters) – South African municipal
workers negotiating annual pay rises have reduced their demands
to 11.5 percent from 15 percent but have made no “meaningful
progress” in resolving an impasse with management, a major
public sector union said on Monday.
The South African Municipal Workers’ Union (SAMWU) said
public sector bosses were sticking at their previous offer of
4.5 percent, a shade lower than inflation at 6.1 percent in
April.
SAMWU claims more than 200,000 members, most of them water,
sanitation and refuse workers.
In its budget in February, the Treasury allowed for a wage
increase of only 5 percent for public servants, adding that a
huge state salary bill was crowding out investment in
infrastructure and other key productive sectors.
Wage negotiations tend to last several weeks in a mid-year
bargaining session known as “strike season”, with unions often
downing tools to back their demands, disrupting mine production
and also hitting services in state hospitals and schools.
A further round of talks between SAMWU and local government
officials are due on June 13/14.
(Reporting by Ed Cropley; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
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