BL Premium reports that the board of the State Information Technology Agency (Sita) is expected on Thursday to discuss some of the options tabled by the Public Servants Association (PSA) to end a wage dispute that has disrupted network connectivity and online services at government departments and state agencies.

This is as Sita said it was preparing to unilaterally implement its final 5% offer to all employees on 25 October, a move the union said would create “long-lasting resentment, animosity and distrust among all parties involved”. The union is demanding a 7.5% increase. Other demands include an increase in data allowances from R500 to R700, an increase of voice allowances from R350 to R500 and insourcing of private cleaners and security personnel as permanent employees. Sita officials and the leadership of PSA were involved in a marathon meeting – called a special bargaining forum – on Wednesday to try break the deadlock and end the industrial action, which commenced with lunch-hour pickets on Monday. The PSA, which represents 80% of about 3,400 staff at Sita – the provider of IT services to national, provincial and local government departments – said it had intensified the industrial action by embarking on a “national shutdown” on Wednesday. The special bargaining forum will apparently resume on Friday morning. The PSA said that in the interim the industrial action would continue.

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

Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page