Pretoria – The Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA) has secured a court interdict to stop the National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (NEHAWU) from going on strike on Monday.
The DPSA received a strike notice from NEHAWU on 24 February 2023.
However, the DPSA at the weekend said it went to court and “successfully interdicted the indefinite strike that was planned by NEHAWU from Monday, (6 March 2023)”.
The union called for strike action after wage hike talks with the government stalled and eventually deadlocked.
Matters came to a head last year when the government rejected the demand by public sector trade unions for a 10% pay hike in 2022, which it said would cost the fiscus R49.2 billion and was “unaffordable”.
The government offer was 3%.
NEHAWU said it served the employer with the notice for strike action “as we are of the view that the employer is not interested in resolving this dispute”.
While, the DPSA said the government respects the rights of Trade Unions to organise and the rights of members to embark on peaceful and lawful protests, including pickets and strikes, it sought court action to stop the strike.
“It is the commitment of government to ensure that these hard-fought-for rights are discharged in a manner that does not disrupt service delivery, especially in relation to essential services such as health,” said the DPSA.
“Government believes that matters of mutual interest can still be resolved through orderly collective bargaining at the appropriate forum established for such purpose.
“Government will continue to call on all the Trade Unions to go back to the Bargaining Chamber to negotiate and resolve matters through dialogue.”
However, the union said it filed a notice to appeal the court ruling and the strike planned for Monday was going ahead.
