Unions demand 10%. Inflation is just under 8%.
- Public sector workers marched to Parliament on Friday to demand a 10% pay rise
- They have rejected the government’s 3% wage increase.
- They have called on the government to return to the negotiating table.
Amina Pinto says she has been working as a nurse for over 40 years and earns R15,000 a month. “I’ve been a senior nurse and that’s my salary,” she said.
He joined 70 other public sector workers on Friday who marched on Parliament.
Workers have rejected a 3% wage increase. Unions are demanding a 10% raise.
Weeks of negotiations in the Public Service Negotiation Coordinating Council have reached a dead end. The protesters called on the government to return to the negotiating table.
Last month, unions affiliated with the SAFTU, COSATU and FEDUSA union federations organized a nationwide protest. But the Western Cape leg of the march had been postponed due to a taxi strike in Cape Town.
Speaking to GroundUp, Pinto said he spends R2,000 a month to commute from Paarl to his job in Bellville. He has not been able to find accommodation closer to work. After bail payments and travel, he has around 3,000 rand left over to buy food and support his family.
“With that 3% I can only buy a loaf of bread and a pint of milk. As a single mother, working every day for four children, it is difficult for me,” Pinto said.
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“I’m about to retire, but I can’t,” he said.
Motlatse Tsubane, COSATU’s provincial president, said that by submitting a 3% wage offer, the government is “undermining the collective bargaining process.”
“The government is talking about a social pact whereby we come together and put our ideas on the table. But only certain sectors within that space are taken seriously, like the companies and themselves.”
“There is a crisis of food, electricity, gasoline and all that has increased. But when you look at people’s salaries, it is very low. We are asking the government to come to the table,” said Eleanor Roberts, the organization’s provincial president. Democratic Nurses Union of South Africa.
She said that the offer is below the inflation rate. She said healthcare workers should be appreciated as they were “the front line” during the covid pandemic.
They are also demanding that the government review the minimum service agreement that prevents workers in essential services from participating in strikes.
The memorandum, which allows seven days for a response, was signed by Nyiko Mabunda, acting director general of human resource management and development, on behalf of Thulas Nxesi, Minister of Public Services and Administration.
