Fin24 reports that half a million private security workers may start to strike next month, as unions have not found common ground with employers at wage talks.

This warning was issued by Kungwini Amalgamated Workers Union (Kawu) at a press briefing on Monday. The union issued a joint statement together with 28 other unions in the sector. According to an estimate by the unions, 500,000 private security personnel could join their strike. The unions are demanding that employers implement increases of 16.14% in the first year of a three-year deal, with 14.12% in the second year and 12.37% in the third year. They also want assurance that the contributions of employees to the Private Security Sector Provident Fund will not rise beyond 7.5% over the next three years. Employers are apparently offering wage hikes of around 5%. Kawu said that the unions had tabled a proposal to declare a national strike and added: "The employers' continued pessimistic approach is leaving us with no option as leaders of the unions, and we are moving towards having all our private security officers going on a national strike.” The joint statement said that "refusal" by the sector's employers to improve workers' salaries was unacceptable as some security officers were earning less than R6,000. The statement added that workers would be submitting draft picketing rules on Thursday. But on Monday night, Fidelity Services Group CEO Wahl Bartmann denied that there was a deadlock in the ongoing negotiations. He said the parties had agreed to two further dates to continue the wage negotiations, namely on 1 and 12 September. "We are confident that a mutually acceptable collective agreement will be concluded during those meetings as the parties are continuing to engage collaboratively on the various issues," said Bartmann.

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

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