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Johannesburg - Housing and protection against salary deductions and disciplinary action remain the main sticking points as the public sector strikes entered its fifteenth day.
A "flawed process" of communication has also been blamed for the rejection of government's latest pay offer.
Union members have shunned the state's wage offer without knowing its details, an official said on Wednesday.
"(Minister of Public Service and Administration Richard Baloyi) started communicating the offer to the public before we even went to our members," National Education, Health and Allied Workers' Union (Nehawu) spokesperson Sizwe Phamla told Sapa.
Cosatu leaders, he said, should not have gone to media and discussed the offer as "they would have never been given enough time to explain the entire thing".
The union had received cellphone text messages from its members saying they rejected the government's new wage offer, without
knowing its details.
"Some leaders used media reports and made pronouncements."
The government was offering a 7.5% wage increase and an R800 monthly housing allowance.
Phamla added that the government had also committed to setting up a housing scheme for its workers as part of the deal.
On Wednesday evening, Congress of South African Trade Unions general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi announced unions had rejected the
offer.
"The overwhelming majority (of Cosatu unions) have rejected the offer," Vavi told the etv news channel.
Phamla said as a result of the "flawed process" of informing members, union leaders were given until Friday to go to all regions and "thoroughly" explain what government was offering.
"We were naive in giving ourselves one day (to decide)."
He said the government had explained it did not have enough money to implement what the workers wanted, but gave "timelines and deadlines" on how it would it implement the proposed housing scheme.
"Tomorrow (Thursday) we are dispatching a team which will thoroughly explain the offer, so that our members can know what they are rejecting.
"The fundamental issue is the one of housing ownership; when we got to PSCBC our demand was R2 000 (housing allowance), we came down to R1 000, which means that R1 000 was already a compromise."
Phamla said during Wednesday's Public Service Coordinating Bargaining Council meeting negotiators looked at "fundamental issues".
"A strike creates its own demands. We have to ensure that when members get what they want they are protected (from salary
deductions and disciplinary action)."
SA Democratic Teacher's Union (Sadtu) spokesperson Nomusa Cembi said the union had explained the details of the strike to its members.
"Our members have looked at the detailed offer and they rejected it. But we will continue to engage with government."
She said Sadtu members still wanted their original 8.6% wage increase demand and R1 000 monthly housing allowance.
