SOUTH AFRICA: Thousands of striking state workers held marches in major cities, calling on government to meet their wage demands

Record ID: 339529

  • Title: SOUTH AFRICA: Thousands of striking state workers held marches in major cities, calling on government to meet their wage demands
  • Date: 27th August 2010
  • Summary: JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA (AUGUST 26, 2010) (REUTERS) WIDE TOP VIEW PAN ACROSS STRIKING WORKERS WEARING RED T-SHIRTS AT ASSEMBLY POINT IN STREET CROWD OF PROTESTERS FILLING STREETS PROTESTERS WITH PLACARDS, ONE READING "WE DEMAND SINGLE TERM AGREEMENT" MALE PROTESTER HOLDING PLACARD READING "WE DEMAND 8.5%" PROTESTERS MARCHING AS DEMONSTRATION STARTS PROTESTER IN A
  • Embargoed: 11th September 2010 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: South Africa
  • Country: South Africa
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVABOLQHB29DP864CHND933ML191
  • Story Text: South Africa's top labour federation COSATU threatened on Thursday (August 26) to sever its long-standing alliance with the ruling African National Congress (ANC) and widen a state workers' strike next week to key industries.
    About 1.3 million unionised employees have walked out in the standoff, shutting schools and cutting off medical treatment at hospitals.
    In Johannesburg, the striking workers wearing red T-shirts and carrying placards staged a peaceful march in the city centre making their way to the various Gauteng Government departments to hand over memorandums.
    The Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) said it filed 7-day strike notices on Thursday so that all its 2 million members could join the state workers in a strike they said would also target the mining and manufacturing sectors, a step which could grind the country to a halt.
    "In seven days the whole of this economy will stand still. The wheel in the mining industry that turns the gold to come up into surface, in diamond, in coal will come to a stop. Everything will come to a standstill," COSATU Secretary-General Zwelinzima Vavi told those taking part in the march.
    Organised labour, which helped President Jacob Zuma ascend to the presidency, may be ready to cut, or change, a relationship with the ANC.
    The state workers' strike has had no major impact on rand and bond trading but market players said worries would mount if it extended into September and other labour groups joined in.
    Some analysts believe South Africa could ultimately benefit from a split between the ANC and COSATU because it would allow the government to ditch union-friendly policies and reform a rigid labour market, criticised for restricting investment and driving up production costs.
    The government has said it cannot afford the state workers' demand of an 8.6 percent wage rise, more than double the inflation rate, and 1,000 rand ($136) a month as a housing allowance. It has offered 7 percent and 700 rand.
    Any agreement to end the dispute is likely to swell state spending by about 1 to 2 percent, forcing the government to find new funds just as it tries to bring down a deficit totalling 6.7 percent of gross domestic product.
    An expanded strike would add to worries about prospects for growth after the economy slowed more than expected in the second quarter of 2010 as mining contracted and manufacturing expanded at a slower pace.
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