Government setting a dangerous precedent with strike?

[Dave A]

Is government about to set a precedent with this strike that could cause even more pain later?

For a little background as to where I'm about to come from, let's consider this extract.

Cosatu: Strikers not getting tired
There is no sign that public servants are getting tired as their pay strike enters its third week, Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi said on Monday.

"The strike continues ... there is no sign that workers are getting tired; instead they are more angry," he told a Cosatu conference in Boksburg.

Vavi said the industrial action would only end once a deal beneficial to workers had been struck.

"We want the strike to end as soon as possible. We want it to end in terms that would be more beneficial to workers," Vavi said. "The strike continues as long as that has not happened."

Vavi said he never expected the strike to reach 16 days.

He said he thought the strike would only last for two days before government came up with a resolution.
full story from M&G here

This strike has gone on for quite a while. It has been marked by a callous disregard by labour for human life, health and well-being, the LRA, the rights of workers who want to work and a number of other individual rights. It has shut down schools that could have carried on teaching by means most foul, including private schools who have no members of staff on government payroll. It has seen people driven away by strikers from hospitals that might have been able to help them otherwise in their moment of most dire need.

Government made a stand at one point by dismissing unprotected workers. And has talked up a tough storm.

I suspect that many of us have some sympathy with labour on the percentage of the increase. It is a tough issue - there needs to be balance - but government can't ignore that the real cost of living has increased far more than their chosen indicator, CPIX. Government cannot continue to bury its head in the sand on this.

But now it isn't just pay on the table. Perhaps unsurprisingly we also have reinstatement of the dismissed workers and paying the strikers for their time whilst out on strike. And these are the very things that ordinarily bring pressure to bear on the parties to act responsibly in terms of the LRA - some semblance of balance between labour and business.

Does government have the resolve to stand by its own labour framework?
And if not, what are the consequences for future wage negotiations if government caves on these points?

[RKS Computer Solutions]

Damned if you do, Damned if you don't.....

[Dave A]

I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

A court application for the reinstatement of health workers dismissed during the public-service strike sought to punish a government that was trying to restore order, the state argued in the Cape High Court on Thursday.

"We have been berated for taking action in a chaotic situation," said an advocate for the Western Cape government, Dumisa Ntsebeza.

Last week the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) and five Khayelitsha residents lodged an urgent application to reverse the dismissal of 41 striking Western Cape health workers because they said it was compromising patients' constitutional rights to healthcare.
full story from M&G here

Just what were these strikers doing again? Is it gov or the strikers that have compromised patients' constitutional rights?

[stephanfx]

I am with you on this one Dave, it is earth-shattering, the logic they are using....

[Eugene]

Agree with you guys! I'm all for the constitution and equal rights to all, but it seems that this has done to far. Now the strike is 10% about the wage increase and 90% over the dismissed workers. Figures.... rebels without a clue...

The day when the strike started, I glanced out of my office window and noticed that all rubbish bins were turned over and a couple of cars vandalised. All is fair in love and war, but I mean, trashing the place while being on a "peacful strike" just don't add up. And the poor municipal wokers who went back to work a couple of days after (after being part of the strike) had to bear the consequences of their meaningless actions by cleaning up the rubbish. Now I just wonder, what about my constitutional right of a clean environment? What would the municipality do if I pro rata reduce my rates and taxes while having to endure this mess?

[Eugene]

I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

Laugh, and the whole world laughs with you....
Cry, and.....
... you have to blow your nose.

[Dave A]

Now the strike is 10% about the wage increase and 90% over the dismissed workers.

That's probably the real story behind this court application too!

Given that the application is to reinstate the dismissed workers (as opposed to simply demanding provision of services) the motive seems somewhat transparent.

[Dave A]

And now government has tabled another final offer on Friday, and labour has 21 days to consider it. Talks are suspended until the end of the 21 day period.

If the workers are going to be paid for their time out on strike, what are the prospects of labour taking the full 21 days?

[duncan drennan]

On Sunday night, the Health and Other Services Personnel Trade Union of South Africa (Hospersa) hit out at Cosatu-affiliated unions, saying they were being held "hostage", Business Day reported on Monday. Hospersa president Gavin Moultrie said Sadtu was "intimidating" other unions and preventing them from signing the government's wage offer.

He said Hospersa had already suspended its strike action on Wednesday and described the government's latest offer as "fantastic".

Full story on M&G Online

Disturbing to say the least. What do you think the intimidation tactics would be?

[Dave A]

What do you think the intimidation tactics would be?

I don't know how much footage of strikers protesting you might have seen, but those guys in the red shirts trying to hide their knobkerries from the cameras aren't there to look beautiful.

A story that came to me last week was a school up the North Coast which had tried to keep going. A few bakkies rolled up, broke down the gates, and unloaded about 50 "teachers" who promptly went on the rampage - intimidating and harassing teachers and scholars. The school caters for Grades 1-7, and the concerned father was telling me just how traumatised his two daughters were by the experience.

There are also more subtle ways to lean on smaller unions. There are a number of areas where unions have multi party representation - such as with SETAs. Labour has to sort out their representation unimpeded (as does business BTW), and there is no requirement that it needs to be proportional. In similar fashion there might be rules as to the minimum representation needed to be part of a bargaining council - but just how many seats you get might not be prescribed in the rules. Then there's the appointment of pension fund trustees.

Then there's aggressive canvassing for members off your membership base...

[Dave A]

The strike is over.

The government's final wage offer was accepted by the majority of public-service unions on Thursday, bringing an end to the longest public-service strike in South African history.

National Education, Health and Allied Workers' Union (Nehawu) president Noluthando Mayende Sibiya made the announcement at a press conference in Pretoria attended by all public-service unions.

She said the majority of unions signed the deal, but some will still consult with their members. Education-sector unions were not prepared to sign and will negotiate further with the government.

The majority of signatures, however, means that the government's offer, which includes a 7,5% increase, will be implemented across the whole public service. The deal also makes provision for dismissed workers to return to work and receive a written warning instead of being fired.
full story from M&G here

[Dave A]

As part of the agreement, a no-work, no-pay rule will apply. Public servants who were on strike will have pay deducted over the next three months. Balt commented: "Obviously we were hoping for something more accommodating."
from M&G here