The government has got contingency measures in place to handle PSA Strike.
According to recent reports, the Public Service Association has plans to embark on a nationwide strike today following the collapse in wage negotiations. News outlet EWN reports that “the Public Service and Administration Department said contingency measures were in place to guard against this week’s upcoming strike by government employees.”
The PSA union represents over 240,000 workers in the country. It is expected to present its memorandum of grievances to National Treasury. According to reports, the South African government reaffirmed plans to unilaterally implement the 3% increase in wages for public service workers in the country. The PSA stated that it is open to joining forces with other unions in other to amplify its calls for higher wages.
The union has called for an increase of between 6.5% and 10% by the government. Still, the government insists on a 3% wage increase only. The blatant refusal by the government has led to threats by the union to disrupt work at government offices. The Department of Public Service and Administration has stressed that it would not let this happen. Instead, the government called for trade unions to begin wage negotiations for the 2023/24 financial year. Hopefully, some good comes out of this.
