PSA ready for a nationwide strike over wage offer

Cape Town - As the Public Servants Association (PSA) gears up to embark on a nationwide strike, its members in the Western Cape will march to Parliament on Thursday.

The strike action follows a collapse in wage negotiations for public servants.

The PSA, one of the largest trade unions in the public service with more than 235 000 members, warned that its planned strike would hit Home Affairs, the Department of Transport, and South Africa border controls.

The government plans to unilaterally implement a 3% wage hike for public service workers this month. It is also expecting to pay out a R1 000 non-pensionable cash allowance.

The public sector union has demanded a wage increase between 6.5% and 10%.

“The strike action follows the government's failure to offer a reasonable salary increase for public servants. The PSA tried everything in its power to avoid industrial action, but the government refused to engage further on the matter.

“The government is also misleading the public by claiming to have given a greater percentage increase to public servants. All proper mandating and balloting procedures were followed by the PSA, after which the union’s members rejected the offer,” PSA’s Aileen Mosetic explained.

The union claimed public servants’ pensions were stagnating, vacancies were not being filled, leaving workers to also perform the duties of employees who have resigned and retired.

The Department of Public Service and Administration said in a statement that contingency measures were in place to guard against Thursday’s action by the PSA.

"All provisions related to the management of employees participating in the protected strike shall apply,” it said.

Cape Times