Close to 1 million South African government workers, ranging from nurse to teachers to department clerks, will go on a nation-wide strike starting August 10 to demand a pay raise and housing subsidy.
“We have now come to a firm conclusion that we will go on strike,” said Fikile Slovo Majola, the secretary-general of the National Education, Health, & Allied Workers Union (NEHAWU). “As part of the preparations, we will start with a build-up program of pickets, marches, and demonstrations. We will have two national marches in Pretoria and Cape Town on Tuesday the 10th of August.”
The government workers are demanding an 8.7% pay raise after rejecting an offer of %6.5. They also want a US$137 housing subsidy. A similar strike in 2007 brought the nation to a standstill.
South African Democratic Teachers Union (SADTU) secretary-general, Mugwena Maluleke, said the 245,000-member group would join the strike after “trying their best” to come to an agreement with the government.
Former World Bank economist, Mutumwa Mawere told The Christian Science Monitor that the effect of a strike would be “severe.”
“Imagine what would happen if a teacher stops going to school?,” Mawere said. “Children will be sidelined. This is a very unfortunate scenario.”
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Good. Now there are jobs for the white people displaced by affirmative Blacktion
Not that it will make much difference. They don't do anything when they are in work.