SOUTH AFRICA: Tens of thousands of South African municipal workers strike for third day Wednesday

Record ID: 340390

  • Title: SOUTH AFRICA: Tens of thousands of South African municipal workers strike for third day Wednesday
  • Date: 30th July 2009
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (English) COSATU PROVINCIAL SECRETARY, TONY EHRENREICH, SAYING: "We support the wage demand for nothing less than 13 per cent for all workers in the city. We support the demand that says our people must be earning the salary. We know that there are too many problems in our communities where the difficulties are confronting us. But the one point that I do want t
  • Embargoed: 14th August 2009 13:00
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  • Location: South Africa
  • Country: South Africa
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAC4BGLGV1IYZRR2YI04CIG83PA
  • Story Text: A strike by tens of thousands of South African council workers entered its third day on Wednesday (29 July), disrupting local government services and keeping up pressure on President Jacob Zuma.
    The strike is the latest stand-off between Zuma and the unions who helped sweep him to power in an April election and now want him to fulfil his promises to help lift the living standards of the poor.
    In Cape Town, workers also marched downtown, overturning rubbish bins as they went.
    "We support the wage demand for nothing less than 13 per cent for all workers in the city," Tony Ehrenreich, provincial secretary of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), told the marchers in a speech.
    "We support the demand that says our people must be earning the salary. We know that there are too many problems in our communities where the difficulties are confronting us."
    South Africa is suffering its first recession since 1992. Unions say the country's poor have been hit hardest. Unemployment is rising with more than four million South Africans without jobs, according to official data.
    Economists believe higher-than-inflation wage settlements in a number of sectors this month could strain Africa's biggest economy.
    South Africa, already facing a shortfall in tax revenue due to the economic crisis, may be forced to increase taxes, while wage settlements could fuel inflation, which currently stands at 6.9 per cent.
    Economist Mike Schussler estimated that council workers were losing about 15 million rand ($1.90 million) in wages a day, but said it was not possible to quantify the cost of the strike to the economy.
    The union is demanding a 15 per cent increase and said 70 per cent of council workers earn less than the 5,000 rand monthly minimum wage it is demanding. Employers have tabled a revised offer of an effective 13 per cent increase.
    SAMWU said on Wednesday many of its members worked in appalling conditions.
    Pressure on the government eased on Tuesday (July 28) after South Africa's biggest union agreed a wage deal with gold and coal producers - averting a potentially damaging strike in the key mining sector.
    Strikes in the paper, industrial chemicals, pharmaceutical and petroleum sectors were called off this week after wage settlements.
    Unionised workers at public broadcaster SABC and fixed-line phone company Telkom embarked on a two-day strike on Wednesday.
    The strike by public transport workers, refuse collectors and licensing officers follows days of violent protests by residents of impoverished townships who have complained about lack of health care, water and electricity.
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