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Johannesburg - South Africa's biggest labour federation Cosatu on Tuesday threatened to expand a state workers' strike next week to all of its members, which could deal a heavy blow to manufacturing in Africa's largest economy.
A top Cosatu official said the expanded strike could take place from next Thursday, once a seven-day strike notice is officially filed.
"This will mean a total shutdown of the public sector until government comes to its senses," the head of Cosatu Zwelinzima Vavi told reporters.
Several hundred thousand Cosatu members are already taking part in the state workers' strike. Unions representing nearly 2 million labourers, including miners, factory workers and communications workers, are under COSATU'S umbrella.
The government has said it cannot afford the workers' demand of an 8.6% wage rise, more than double the inflation rate, and R1 000 a month as a housing allowance.
The nearly week-long strike by about 1.3 million state workers that includes nurses, teachers and clerks, has shut schools, delayed treatment at hospitals and the delivery of other services to those who rely on government help.
'Teachers should know better'
The strike has already taken a heavy toll on the country's poor, but its economic damage has been limited. One newspaper said it might be costing the country about R1bn a day but there are no official figures on damage.
Some HIV-infected people have been unable to receive the daily cocktail of medication that keeps them alive; pregnant mothers have been turned away from public hospitals and the working poor are having to stay at home to take care of children who would normally be in school.
"Teachers should know better. It's the children who will have to suffer and that damage cannot be repaired whether teachers get their increases or not," said James Langa, a parent from Soweto, a sprawling township outside Johannesburg.
In what has become a daily occurrence, strikers have blocked patients from entering hospitals, assaulted co-workers trying to break through picket lines and abused children showing up to schools hoping there will be classes.
Talks between the government and the unions are unlikely to take place until after President Jacob Zuma returns from a trip to China that ends on Thursday.
The strike could add to worries about prospects for growth as Africa's largest economy slowed more than expected in the second quarter of 2010 as mining contracted while expansion in manufacturing was lower than before.
Any agreement to end the dispute is likely to swell state spending by about 1% to 2%, forcing the government to find new funds just as it tries to bring down a deficit totalling 6.7% of gross domestic product.
The National Union of Mineworkers said members at a Rio-Tinto-BHP Billiton joint venture will vote on a strike after the company failed to meet wage demands.
