Massive strike looms

Wage talks between the South African government and public service workers collapsed on Tuesday, raising the prospect of a widespread strike by up to 1.1 million civil servants, reports said.

According to the reports, most of the 12 unions representing the civil service rejected an offer on pay and working conditions, and Public Service and Administration Minister Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi said the government's offer was final.
The government offered a three-year wage agreement that included inflation-related salary rises of 5.5 to 6.5 percent. But the deal included a restructuring clause that could lead to job losses in a sector that the government has long said is bloated.

The government was quoted as saying that its offer would add R5 billion (US $545 million) to its current wage bill and it could not afford more. "We've reached the end of the road in terms of what is possible," Fraser-Moleketi told a news conference. Fraser-Moleketi expressed concern on Tuesday that a public sector strike would cause "major difficulties", especially if teachers stopped work as end-of-year examinations approached. Workers in essential services such as hospitals are legally barred from going on strike.

"My union is not going to sign and my understanding is that other unions are not going to sign. All the unions have rejected the offer," Thulas Nxesi, general secretary of the South African Democratic Teachers Union (SADTU), the country's second largest public sector union, said. "We are not going to sell away workers' rights by signing retrenchment agreements," he added.