Johannesburg : The Department of Public Service and Administration has announced that the Nehawu strike will end as a following an agreement signed to end the strike.
This comes after striking Cosatu-affiliates agreed to return to work on Tuesday at a meeting of the Public Service Coordinating Bargaining Council.
Later on Wednesday, the disgruntled unions will present a memorandum detailing any outstanding issues from the wage negotiations of 2022-2023 at a special council meeting.Â
Unions affiliated with Cosatu can now return to wage talks for 2023/2024, which began last month, thanks to the settlement agreement with the government.Â
As tensions rose over wage increases for the previous financial year, union representatives from Nehawu, the nurses’ union Denosa, and the police officers’ union Popcru were conspicuously absent from the opening of the current wage negotiations.
Despite the government having implemented a 3% wage increase unilaterally almost six months ago, this has continued to be the case.
Some believe that several people lost their lives during the nearly two-week long lull in fighting because they were unable to get to hospitals because striking workers had blocked their entrance.
Nehawu, however, has said that the deaths were not caused by the strike.
The government, meanwhile, has increased its wage offer for 2023/2024 from 4.7 percent to 7 percent since last month.
