Business Report *Strikes to continue even as offers are weighed **Samantha Enslin-Payne and Roy Cokayne, Business Report, Johannesburg, 6 September 2010*
Public sector unions affiliated to Cosatu and the Independent Labour Caucus will meet today to decide on whether to continue to strike after consulting their members over the weekend on the latest offer.
Public Servants Association deputy general manager Manie de Clercq yesterday said the offer was under consideration, but the strike was still on.
The unions' decision was expected at the weekend, but a meeting scheduled for yesterday was postponed until today. The strike, which began on August 18, is close to entering its fourth week.
Reports last week indicated that many union members had rejected the 7.5 percent wage increase and a R800 monthly housing allowance. This was due to an apparent blunder by the government and union leaders who publicly announced the draft offer before union members were consulted on the full details. The offer also includes a commitment to equalise medical benefits, a new housing scheme and a minimum service agreement.
De Clercq said the deals on the medical subsidy and the minimum service agreement were "very significant".
Sizwe Pamla, the national spokesman for the National Education Health and Allied Workers' Union, said on Friday that after a flood of e-mails and text messages "we had to acknowledge the rejections, but it was difficult to say it was an official rejection as members had not been properly consulted".
Meanwhile, there is still no end in sight for the strike in the motor retail and automotive component manufacturing sectors, which is threatening to halt production at all seven local vehicle manufacturing plants. The plants of Volkswagen South Africa in Uitenhage and BMW South Africa in Rosslyn have already shut, with other plants set to follow.
Negotiations between the National Union of Metalworkers of SA (Numsa) and employer representatives are set to resume today. Talks were adjourned in the early hours of Friday morning to allow union representatives to attend the funeral of former Numsa president Mthuthuzeli Tom.
Jeff Osborne, the chief executive of the Retail Motor Industry Organisation (RMI), said progress was made in addressing some of the issues although agreement had not been reached on any core issues. Osborne said the RMI received a disturbing number of calls from members reporting violence and intimidation.
He said it was difficult to measure the strike's effectiveness, but it seemed most businesses were still operating with a smaller staff base.
Mark Roberts, the convener of the component manufacturing sector at the motor industry bargaining council, said important principles were established and Numsa had suggested recognising the industry's diverse nature and a possible framework to address this.
Roberts said strike participation levels were quite high and the number of workers on strike had increased.
*From: http://www.busrep.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=566&fArticleId=5634462 <http://www.busrep.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=566&fArticleId=5634462>*
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