Report: South African public servants reject new pay deal (Roundup)

Sep 1, 2010, 20:50 GMT

Johannesburg - In a blow for President Jacob Zuma's intervention, South African public sector workers voted to continue their strike for a third week after rejecting an improved pay deal, a radio report said Thursday.

The majority of unions representing more than 1 million nurses, teachers, court workers and other public servants rejected the government's latest offer of a 7.5-per-cent pay increase and an 800 rand (108 dollars) housing allowance, according to Johannesburg's private 702 radio station.

The radio quoted Zwelinzima Vavi, the general secretary of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), as saying the majority of COSATU-affiliated unions had rejected the deal. COSATU is the country's biggest labour federation

Unions allied to a much small labour federation, the Independent Labour Caucus, were meanwhile split 50-50.

The workers have been demanding 8.6 per cent more pay and 1,000 rand towards housing.

In a bid to break weeks of deadlock, which resulted in nurses and teachers walking off the job on August 18 the state upped its offer by a half percentage point Tuesday, while saying it would have to borrow money to cover its wage bill.

The rejection by the unions means that public schools will remain closed and hospitals will continue to turn away all but the most critical of patients until a new offer is tabled.

The outcome is a blow for Zuma, who on Monday ordered his ministers to find a solution to the crisis.

Zuma has been criticized for his weak leadership during the strike, which has cost several patients their lives, mostly after being turned away from hospitals by picketing workers.