Johannesburg - Municipal workers negotiating
annual pay rises have reduced their demands to 11.5% from 15% but have made no
“meaningful progress” in resolving an impasse with management, a major public
sector union said on Monday.
The South African Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) said
public sector bosses were sticking at their previous offer of 4.5%, a shade
lower than inflation at 6.1% in April.
Samwu claims more than 200 000 members, most of them water,
sanitation and refuse workers.
In its budget in February, the Treasury allowed for a wage
increase of only 5% for public servants, adding that a huge state salary bill
was crowding out investment in infrastructure and other key productive sectors.
Wage negotiations tend to last several weeks in a mid-year
bargaining session known as strike season, with unions often downing tools to
back their demands, disrupting mine production and also hitting services in
state hospitals and schools.
A further round of talks between Samwu and local government officials is due on June 13/14.