Durban - Members of public sector unions joined forces on Tuesday as they marched through the Durban CBD calling for a 10% salary increase.
Dozens of members of trade unions which are affiliated to Cosatu, the Federation of Unions of South Africa and the South African Federation of Trade Unions took part in the march.
They have given the government seven days to respond to their memorandum of demands.
While the government was set to implement the disputed 3% salary hike for public servants yesterday, the unions have rejected the amount, saying they required a decent increase amid the rising cost of living.
Maintenance worker Mzamo Thusi, who works at Addington Hospital, said workers wanted 10%. He added that it had been a long time since they had had a pay hike and they were fed up with government’s broken promises.
“We want the 10% not the 3% they are giving us. It’s been four years without a wage raise.
“They made promises from 2018 but have not fulfilled them yet. They say ‘no work no pay’, but I don’t care. Food is expensive and the overall cost of living is rising,” said Thusi.
Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union provincial secretary Nthabeleng Molefe said the government unilaterally implemented the 3% and said as public sector workers, they would bear the brunt of the rising cost of living as the consumer price index, the interest rate and repo rate were much higher than 3%.
Molefe added that they were having a central executive committee meeting next week where crucial decisions would be taken.
“We are having the central executive committee meeting next week that is where we will evaluate everything and if we come with the decision that the police will not be on duty, then there would be no law enforcement on the ground,” said Molefe.
In the signed memorandum, the workers highlighted their “declining standard of living, accumulating workloads, deteriorating working conditions and a deeply demoralised public service workforce”.
The memorandum also said that the government had a deadline of seven days to respond.
“We give the employer seven days to respond, failing which we will roll out some actions including a total shutdown through withdrawal of labour from the 2nd December 2022.”
KwaZulu-Natal government’s deputy director-general, Sibusiso Ngubane, received the memorandum and assured the workers that the memorandum would be passed on to President Cyril Ramaphosa and the Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana.