By: Natasha Archary
Members of the Public Servants Association (PSA) in all government departments are set to join the union’s national strike on Thursday, 10 November.
In a statement, the union said that the national government shutdown is a result of government’s failure to put forward a reasonable salary increase for public servants.
The PSA says its tried everything in its power to avoid the industrial strike action after staging pickets across the country this week.
However, the union says that government has rejected further engagement on the matter and have decided to unilaterally implement a meagre 3% salary increase.
“In addition, government is also misleading the public by claiming to have given a greater percentage increase to public servants. A R1 000 non-pensionable cash gratuity is included in the initial offer by government but is due to end on 31 March 2023. All proper mandating and balloting procedures were followed by the PSA after which the Union’s members rejected the offer.”
The public is advised not to visit any government departments this week, especially in the Western Cape as staff will be continuing their pickets ahead of the mass strike which is planned for Thursday.
A 10% increase is amongst the demands of the PSA, saying the last time workers received a decent increase was in 2019.
On Thursday, members of the association will march to Parliament with a list of their demands.



