{"id":237657,"date":"2022-09-20T16:27:33","date_gmt":"2022-09-20T14:27:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.groundup.org.za\/article\/public-sector-workers-threaten-full-blown-strike\/"},"modified":"2022-09-20T16:27:33","modified_gmt":"2022-09-20T14:27:33","slug":"public-sector-workers-threaten-full-blown-strike","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/public-sector-workers-threaten-full-blown-strike\/","title":{"rendered":"Public sector workers threaten \u201cfull-blown\u201d strike"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Members of the National Union of Public Service and Allied Workers picketed in Tshwane on Tuesday, demanding an 8% wage increase. Photo: Chris Gilili<\/p>\n

Public service workers picketed outside the offices of the Public Service Co-ordinating Bargaining Council in Tshwane, on Tuesday, threatening to strike. Wage talks with the government have been deadlocked for three weeks.<\/p>\n

Members of unions affiliated to the SA Federation of Trade Unions (SAFTU) are demanding a baseline increase of 8% while the government is offering 3%, up from an initial 2%.<\/p>\n

Peter Ntsime, who has worked as a police officer for 29 years, says he earns R18,000 a month, R7,000 after deductions and has not had an increase for two years. He said the South African Police Service (SAPS) is not filling vacant posts and workers are \u201coverstretched\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t have enough manpower to tackle the crime engulfing this country. Officers even lack uniforms in certain areas and are forced to buy the uniform themselves. We receive R1,600 uniform allowance for the whole year, and R1,200 covers only shoes. It\u2019s tough and we can\u2019t cope. That\u2019s why we say the 3% is ridiculous.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are working very hard, and police officers are killed on a daily basis, \u201d said Ntsime.<\/p>\n

Gauteng chairman of the National Union of Public Sector and Allied Workers(NUPSAW) Sibusiso Nkasa said, \u201cWe hope that we find a common ground with the employer. We reject the 3% totally. We are willing to negotiate until something better is offered,\u201d said Nkasa.<\/p>\n

Nkasa works as a radiographer for the Gauteng Department of Health. He said the offer was a poor acknowledgement of health workers\u2019 hard work during the pandemic.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have been working tirelessly. There is no gratitude at all shown to public servants,\u201d said Nkasa.<\/p>\n

NUPSAW secretary Solly Malema said to workers: \u201cWe only have one option to go. A full-blown strike now.\u201d<\/p>\n

SAFTU spokesperson Trevor Shaku said a full-blown strike would follow if the government did not meet their demand. \u201cWe can\u2019t allow them to get away with 3%,\u201d said Shaku.<\/p>\n

South African Police Union (SAPU) spokesperson Lesiba Thobakgale said the process was likely to drag on, but workers would not give up. \u201cWe are not going to compromise. We demand an 8% wage increase and nothing less,\u201d said Thobakgale.<\/p>\n

Public Service and Administration Acting Minister Thulas Nxesi has said<\/a> the government offer \u201ctakes place under a difficult financial situation and when the rate of unemployment in the country is high\u201d. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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Source: GroundUp<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Members of the National Union of Public Service and Allied Workers picketed in Tshwane on Tuesday, demanding an 8% wage increase. Photo: Chris Gilili Public service workers picketed outside the offices of the Public Service Co-ordinating Bargaining Council in Tshwane, on Tuesday, threatening to strike. Wage talks with the government have been deadlocked for three […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":237658,"comment_status":"closed","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":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[9928],"tags":[28001],"class_list":{"0":"post-237657","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-groundup","8":"tag-groundup","9":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/public-sector-workers-threaten-full-blown-strike.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237657","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=237657"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237657\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/237658"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=237657"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=237657"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=237657"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}