BL Premium reports that the Public Servants Association (PSA), which represents more than 235,000 public servants, is expected to continue with its strike ballot this week after talks between the government and public service unions failed to hammer out a pay hike deal on Friday.

The PSA lodged a dispute at the Public Service Co-ordinating Bargaining Council (PSCBC) in July after rejecting the government’s 2% cost-of-living adjustment offer and a R1,000 after-tax cash gratuity, which the state argued equated to a combined 6.5%. The PSA’s Reuben Maleka said the union has obtained a “certificate of non-resolution and is ready to act upon the outcome of the ballot of its members and give the government seven days’ notice of strike action”. The balloting process is expected to end on Friday. The public service unions, including Cosatu affiliates, are now demanding a 6.5% increase, having revised their demands from the initial 10% they called for when negotiations started in May. Labour is said to have “unanimously rejected government’s proposed cost-containment measures” during talks at the bargaining council on Thursday. If the deadlock is not broken through dispute resolution processes, a strike certificate will be issued to the other public service unions, allowing them to embark on industrial action, which could bring government services to its knees and disrupt hospitals and schooling.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Luyolo Mkentane at BusinessLive (subscriber access only)

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