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Johannesburg — THE Department of Home Affairs would be hardest hit by the public service workers' strike, a union warned yesterday. The Public Servants Association (PSA), with 200000 members, said there would be interruptions in the issuing of IDs and passports at the department, where many of its members were employed. "Our members will be on strike as from Thursday. They will continue with the strike action until Friday. Home affairs will immediately feel the impact because there would be interruptions in the issuing of IDs and passports," spokesman Manie de Clercq said yesterday. Public sector unions affiliated to the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) -- including the South African Democratic Teachers Union (Sadtu), the National Education, Health, and Allied Workers Union (Nehawu), the Democratic Nursing Organisation of SA and the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union -- served the government with strike notices yesterday. The unions represent 56% of the 1,3-million public sector employees. Nehawu general secretary Fikile Majola said the union would meet its members tomorrow to come up with a specific programme . 
Kevin Roussel "During the negotiations, our members were reading daily of government's wasteful expenditure on cars, hotels, parties and World Cup tickets, amounting to millions of rands. This was sending a wrong message because we were told that there was no money," he said. Sadtu general secretary Mugwena Maluleke said the union had resolved to embark on strike action, although the date was still to be announced . "We are aware that the strike will affect schooling. We have called upon our members to ensure that they do not join the PSA on their planned march until the leadership announce the date for action. Relevant Links"We are calling upon our members to engage parents on the strike and the recovery programmes. We further expect our members to continue teaching and assisting learners until the date of the strike is announced after the ballot process ," Mr Maluleke said. The public sector unions rejected the state's offer of a 6,5% wage increase, demanding 8,6% and a R1000 housing subsidy. Department of Public Service and Administration spokesman Dumisani Nkwamba said the m inister, Richard Baloyi , would meet the unions today as part of an effort to avert a national strike. Mr Baloyi was expected to table the government's latest offer: an increase in the housing allowance from R620 to R750 a month. Mr Majola said the Cosatu unions had not asked for political intervention from the African National Congress. With Sapa. Read comments. Write your own. Copyright © 2010 Business Day. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here. AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica. AllAfrica - All the Time
Mon Aug 2 11:42:10 2010
Richard Baloyi and his cronies are taking chances, while they enjoying our taxes with their families and expect us to keep quiet they have a thing coming. Now it begs a question, does they deserve a second chance in office i don't think so? Gone are those days to beg our so called comrades wkile they enjoy themselves with their big bellies. Such things are branding them dysfunctional and the support base of the ruling party is slow eroding. |
Active Discussions: South African Unions Given Ultimatum