{"id":11633,"date":"2012-06-19T23:35:11","date_gmt":"2012-06-19T21:35:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/06\/update-1-s-africa-urges-unions-to-return-to-pay-talks\/"},"modified":"2012-06-19T23:35:11","modified_gmt":"2012-06-19T21:35:11","slug":"update-1-s-africa-urges-unions-to-return-to-pay-talks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/update-1-s-africa-urges-unions-to-return-to-pay-talks\/","title":{"rendered":"UPDATE 1-S.Africa urges unions to return to pay talks"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n

(Recasts, adds union comment)<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

By Peroshni Govender<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

PRETORIA, June 19<\/span> (Reuters) – A South African minister urged
\nunions representing about 1.3 million state workers to return to
\npay talks on Tuesday, but warned that any increase above the
\ncurrent 6.5 percent offer would mean dipping into state
\nreserves.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Talks over pay increases broke down last week, raising the
\nthreat of a strike that could shut down hospitals and schools.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

“The state of our global economy, the reality of our own
\nlimited budget, our own credit rating and credibility make me
\nhope and believe that labour and ourselves as government have no
\nappetite for a dispute and, worse, a strike,” Lindiwe Sisulu,
\nminister of public administration, told a news conference.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

A spokesman for one of a dozen unions involved in the
\ndispute said he welcomed the government’s call.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

“Going back to the negotiation table is the right thing to
\ndo but we are not going to be intimidated,” said Sizwe Pamla of
\nhealth and education union NEHAWU, one of the most powerful
\npublic sector unions with a quarter of a million members.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Unions must consult members before formally accepting the
\ninvitation and no date for a new round of talks has been set.<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

The government had originally budgeted for a 5 percent
\nincrease but was forced to increase its offer as inflation has
\ninched up in recent months, hitting 6.1 percent in April.
\n\u00a0 Continued…<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Recasts, adds union comment) By Peroshni Govender PRETORIA, June 19 (Reuters) – A South African minister urged unions representing about 1.3 million state workers to return to pay talks on Tuesday, but warned that any increase above the current 6.5 percent offer would mean dipping into state reserves. Talks over pay increases broke down last […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[830,2370,183],"class_list":{"0":"post-11633","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-south-africa","7":"tag-news","8":"tag-reuters","9":"tag-south-africa-2","10":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11633","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11633"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11633\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11633"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11633"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11633"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}