Unions, state in talks aimed at ending South Africa strike

Jun 4, 2007, 16:57 GMT

Johannesburg - Negotiations between public sector unions and the South African government aimed at ending a four-day strike that has crippled service in public hospitals resumed Monday in an atmosphere described as tense.

The talks resumed in Centurion near the administrative capital Pretoria after being adjourned several times to allow both sides to hold internal consultations.

The government and 17 unions representing over a million workers, including teachers, nurses, police, are at loggerheads over wage increases.

The unions, citing the generally poor pay levels in the public service and an inflation rate of 6.3 per cent, are looking for a 12-per-cent pay rise for their members. The government is offering 6 per cent plus extra benefits for some workers.

The government's warning Sunday to essential services workers, who are banned from striking, to go back to work Monday or face dismissal has further soured relations with the unions.

Unions say the strike ban violates their constitutional right to strike and that their attempts to negotiate minimum service agreements with the government have been repeatedly rebuffed.

Nearly half a million workers downed tools on the first day of the strike Friday, including large numbers of nurses and teachers. There have been isolated reports of intimidation of nurses who defied the strike call.

Services ground to a halt at the weekend in some public hospitals, necessitating in at least one instance the evacuation of intensive-care patients to private hospitals.

National Education, Health and Allied Workers Union (NEHAWU) spokesman Guy Slingsby told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa: 'To come and put an offer of 6 per cent on the table is an insult and our members are extremely angry.'