Public service unions start one-day strike, crowds gather in Pretoria

22nd November 2022 By: News24Wire

Members of seven unions in the public service embarked on a national one-day strike on Tuesday, with crowds gathering in Pretoria for a march to the National Treasury.

The unions have planned marches in eight provinces, and a second march to the National Treasury in the space of two weeks. 

A crowd consisting largely of members of the Public Servants' Association (PSA) and the National Union of Public Service and Allied Workers (Nupsaw) gathered outside of Burgers Park in Pretoria for the march on Tuesday morning.

For six unions, this is their first strike amid a public sector wage dispute. But this is the second day that members of the PSA won't receive pay, since they launched another one-day strike earlier this month.

At issue is the deadlocked wage negotiations in the public service, where the government is offering a 3% baseline salary increase plus a monthly cash amount of R1 045 (from R1 000 currently). The unions want a pay hike of 10%.

Other unions participating in the one-day strike on Tuesday are the National Education, Health, and Allied Workers Union (Nehawu), the Police, Prisons and Civil Rights Union (Popcru), the SA Policing Union (Sapu), the Democratic Nursing Organisation of South Africa (Denosa), Nupsaw  and the Health and Other Services Personnel Trade Union of SA (Hospersa).

The seven unions are part of the largest labour federations: Cosatu, the SA Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu), and the Federation of Unions SA (Fedusa). Together, they represent an estimated 800 000 members.

Union structures in the Western Cape postponed their march to Parliament over concerns for members' safety amid the ongoing taxi strike by the SA National Taxi Council.

The government told News24 on Monday that it expected every public servant that was not on leave or ill to be at their stations on Tuesday, with pickets limited to their lunch hour. 

The PSA handed a memorandum of demands to the National Treasury during their march two weeks ago. They have said even public servants whose work constitutes an essential service are prepared to down tools.

The union has threatened to intensify its demonstrations in the public service and is considering marches to ministers' homes and a boycott of municipal rates.

The strikes take place on the eve of the governing ANC's elective conference in Nasrec next month. The ANC-aligned Cosatu is eager to use the opportunity to assert its influence on the tripartite alliance. The other federations are less pliant with the ANC.