Cape Town – Public Sector unions including Cosatu have vowed to continue their fight for a bigger wage increase from the government.
The unions are currently demanding a 10% wage increase which the government doesn’t agree on and unilaterally implemented a 3% increase.
This follows after labour federation union Cosatu and other members from different public sector unions gathered in Cape Town on Friday to hand over the memorandum of demands to parliament.
Speaking to SAfm, Cosatu Western Cape provincial secretary, Malvern De Bruyn, said that they are unilaterally rejecting the 3% increase that the government has implemented.
“We have handed over the memorandum and we have given them seven days to respond and if the response is not favourable we will go back to the drawing board as labour and as a collective to decide the way forward, and the national shutdown in 2023 is a highest possibility,” De Bruyn said.
He also outlined that most people want to know why, after so many meetings why they haven’t staged a strike if they are not satisfied with what the government is currently offering.
“As Cosatu we are a very reasonable organisation, we like to engage first around the table and, if those engagements are not bringing fruits to the table, then our next step is normally is to go out on the streets,” he sais.
“We needed to follow those particular processes hoping that things will change for the better but unfortunately nothing has changed. We still have the same issue we and they did not want to agree on 10%,”
“We have seen the statement that has been issued on Wednesday saying that they want to come back to the negotiations, as Cosatu and the other federations we are willing to go back to the table to talk about the impulse that we are currently facing,” he said.
Be Bryun says that as much as people are questioning the level of unity among the members of these unions in terms of finding a way forward or embarking on a strike, he believes that no striking action around the world has ever had 100% support from certain members in the labour sector.
“Although a small percentage of our members would not want to go on strike we will get support from the majority in 2023 to get a reasonable increase,” he said.