 Public sector strike prevented A REPEAT of last year's chaotic public service sector strike which halted government services has been prevented. The Department of Public Service and Administration and the public service sector unions signed an agreement yesterday to prevent the possibility of a strike which the unions were already contemplating. The trade unions had threatened to down tools over wages, a minimum service-level agreement and housing scheme. Cosatu public service sector unions spokesperson Mugwena Maluleke said they agreed on salary increases of 6,8percent.  "The increases will be across the board," Maluleke said. "They will be effected from September 16 but the payment would be backdated to May 1." Maluleke said they had made commitments to resolve outstanding issues. He said negotiations would continue on workers in the salary bracket that disqualifies them from housing ownership. Maluleke said they agreed that the process should be finished and agreement signed by December 15. He said they agreed to conclude talks on the minimum-service agreements and implementation of the agreement should not be later than April next year. Public Service and Administration Minister Richard Baloyi's spokesperson Dumisani Nkwamba issued a statement saying that Baloyi welcomed the settlement. The parties engaged in protracted negotiations that shuffled between conciliation, mediation and private facilitation. The negotiations at the public service sector bargaining council on Friday ended in the early hours of Saturday. The parties returned to the negotiating table again on Monday, until agreeing to settle yesterday afternoon. Last year's strike over the same issues crippled, among other sectors, education and public health. -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] . |
