South Africa
Nehawu vows to intensify protests─── 06:03 Mon, 13 Mar 2023
The National Education, Health and Allied Workers' Union (Nehawu) has vowed to intensify its protests from Monday until the government meet its demands.
The union's members started striking last Monday, demanding a 10% wage hike. However, the government is only offering 4.7%.
Healthcare facilities across Central South Africa and nationwide have been negatively affected as the strike has devastatingly impacted public sector healthcare in several provinces.
Jacaranda FM reports that Nehawu’s general secretary, Zola Saphetha, addressed the media on Sunday and said the government has been arrogant during wage negotiations.
“As Nehawu we want to register that it has become quite clear to us that despite all our efforts to resolve the dispute the government is not interested in concluding the 2022/23 dispute, as they argue that they have closed and concluded negotiations in that financial year.”
He said the union would continue with its protests until further notice.
“This was despite no resolution for that financial year but rather a unilateral implementation of the 3% (wage hike), which was way below the CPI.
“With this arrogance displayed by the government, it is important to confirm that Nehawu continues with the strike in a more intensified manner as from Monday to demonstrate to the government how serious we take the concerted efforts to underplay the role and the significance of public servants, who are at the coalface of service delivery.”
