Fin24 reports that the Public Servants Association (PSA), which represents around half of the employees in the bargaining at the SA Revenue Service (SARS), has put its strike on hold as it waits for the employer to respond to its demands.

A national strike at SARS is ongoing following a deadlock with the PSA and the National Education, Health and Allied Workers' Union (Nehawu) over wage increases. PSA spokesperson Ruben Maleka indicated on Wednesday that the union would give SARS until the end of the week to respond to its demands, with its members to return to duty for the time being. "We are waiting for the employer to respond to our memorandum. We are meeting on Friday ... It is basically the same demand," said Maleka. Picketing at SARS began in the middle of May and the strike officially kicked off last week. According to SARS, it could not afford unions’ demands of CPI inflation plus 7%, but it was willing to channel savings from 2021 towards meaningful salary increases. SARS claims its operations are going on as planned despite the strike. Meantime, the National Treasury reaffirmed in Parliament that any increases SARS received in allocation from the fiscus must be used to tighten up the tax authority's operations, rather than going towards wage increases.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Khulekani Magubane at Fin24

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