The Star reports that trade union federation Cosatu has snubbed an invitation from its former general secretary, Zwelinzima Vavi, to close ranks and form a united front in the public sector wage talks.

Vavi had made a call for Cosatu unions to join hands with his federation, the SA Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu), in launching a massive public sector strike to force the government to concede to a 7% wage increase. Apparently, he wrote to Cosatu and the Federation of Unions of SA (Fedusa) to seek support to broker a deal for public servants. Cosatu’s spokesperson on the wage talks, Mugwena Maluleke, described Vavi’s call as a populist move that sought to steal members from other unions. Maluleke observed: “We are not going to support a strike called by Vavi. We will call a strike when we want to go on strike. Why should we support his strike? They want to send a message that they are leading these people in a recruitment drive, they are not in negotiations.” According to Maluleke, it was through the efforts of Cosatu unions that the government was able to move from the initial 0% wage increase offer to a 1.5% offer. He said Cosatu had been leading negotiations for years and had the numbers to pull a strike if it wanted to.

• Read the original of the report in the above regard by Itumeleng Mafisa at The Star

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