Johannesburg - The Congress of SA Trade Unions and the Independent Labour Caucus will have further discussions on the latest public sector pay offer when they meet at noon on Thursday, said a spokesman for Cosatu-affiliated public service sector unions.
"The point is how do we intensify the struggle moving forward," said Mugwena Maluleka, who is also the chief negotiator for Cosatu, as the strike went into its third week.
On Wednesday night, Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi said that "the overwhelming majority (of Cosatu unions) have rejected the offer".
However, the National Education Health and Allied Workers' Union said its members had until Friday to make up their minds, because one day was not been enough time to decide.
The initial response within Cosatu to the government's latest offer of a 7.5% increase and an R800 housing allowance was that it be rejected by negotiators, but this was not a final decision, said Maluleka.
Various other consultations still had to take place before a final decision was reached, he explained.
"We are at different stages. We have taken a round of consulting members. Now unions are sitting in constitutional structures and based on what all the mass meetings have said, they consolidate the views of all areas."
Some had already completed this process.
Maluleka said the members "on the ground" were still ready to fight for a better offer.
"Workers are prepared to pay a price for a better wage. This is a living wage struggle. We can't look at short victories, we want to look at long term victories for us."
According to a copy of the latest offer on the Public Servants' Association website, the government had withdrawn the offer on the table on August 20.
At the time, the government said it intended unilaterally implementing the offer, because it had no more money.
The new offer, made on August 31, consists of an across the board increase of 7.5% and a housing allowance of R800 a month, compared with the current R500, both with effect from July 1
The government committed itself to dealing with the development and implementation of a home ownership scheme; investigating the equalisation of the medical aid subsidy; and finalising the minimum service level agreement..
It made a commitment to implement by April 1 a post-retirement medical subsidy for Government Employees Medical Scheme members which was aligned with that of serving employees.
It also committed itself to aligning the negotiation processes with the budgeting process with a new round of negotiation starting in October and concluding on July 31.
Part of the agreement would be measures for public servants to return to work after the strike.
Members were asked indicate by Tuesday whether they accepted the offer, which affects about 1.3 million public servants.