Moneyweb reports that public sector workers, who await the government’s response to their list of demands this week, have vowed to heighten strike action should the state revert with an unfavourable response.

Trade unions in the sector are demanding salary increases of 10% and handed over a memorandum of demands to acting Public Service and Administration Minister Thulas Nxesi at a protest staged last Tuesday outside the offices of National Treasury in Pretoria. The unions gave government seven days to respond to their demands and present a better offer than the 3% baseline and 4.5% non-pensionable increases which the state has unilaterally implemented. “If government fails to respond, we are going to take the battle to them,” National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu) spokesperson Lwazi Nkolonzi warned on Monday. He said labour federations Cosatu, Fedusa and Saftu as well as Nehawu would meet on Tuesday morning to discuss the next plan of action. “If the government doesn’t bring a positive response to our demands, there’s going to be a serious fight and struggle that we’ll be launching,” said Nkolonzi. The Public Servants Association’s (PSA’s) Claude Naicker said its members would continue to stage pickets from Tuesday, followed by nationwide stayaways that would take place on different dates. “We’ll start our plan of action on Tuesday, going forward in all the provinces. We’ve earmarked a specific date for [stayaways and protests] in each province,” Naicker explained.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Ntando Thukwana at Moneyweb

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