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GroundUp reports that striking members of the National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu) protested across the country on Wednesday, with some strikers closing down hospitals and disrupting health services and government offices.
Government considers the 2022 wage negotiations settled, but Nehawu and some other unions are still holding out for an increase of at least 10%. “You have shown the power of the people by closing all the hospitals. The employer says people are dying. It is not our responsibility to keep people’s lives,” Nehawu’s Western Cape provincial secretary Baxolise Mali told striking members on Wednesday. Mali said Nehawu’s intention was to “collapse the provision of government services” to force the government to the negotiating table. Speaking to strikers outside the Khayelitsha Hospital in Cape Town, Mali stated: “Our tactics involve closing workplaces, to force workers to get out and switch off their computers.” Meantime, Nehawu’s Gauteng provincial chairperson Mzikayise Tshontshi told GroundUp that the battle for a wage increase was far from over. He claimed that Nehawu had been called to the Public Sector Bargaining Council on Thursday. “Our negotiators will be there, but the rest of us will continue shutting down public services. We believe our strike has been resoundingly successful. From Monday to today, the numbers have been growing. Tomorrow we want to intensify the strike,” said Tshontshi. In Tshwane, striking workers closed down the offices of the Department of Public Service and Administration, shouting and insulting some workers who were inside the offices. The GroundUp report goes on to detail developments in Eastern Cape, Gauteng, Free State, North West, Mpumalanga, Limpopo and KwaZulu-Natal.
- Read the full original of the informative report on the strike by Vincent Lali, Chris Gilili, Liezl Human, Tariro Washinyira, Nombulelo Damba-Hendrik, Thamsanqa Mbovane & Mkhuseli Sizani at GroundUp
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page