The FINANCIAL — Thousands of city workers in South Africa went on strike on July 27 to demand higher wages, disrupting bus, street sweeping and vehicle licensing services across the country.
About 150,000 refuse collectors, city police and public-transport workers, among others, have stopped work in a campaign for higher wages, unions said, as reported BBC.
The labor union, which represents 125,000 workers, wants a 15 percent pay increase, a monthly minimum wage of 5,000 rand ($646) and a 70 percent increase in housing allowances, Mthandeki Nhlapo, the general secretary of the labor union, said in a phone interview on July 27. The South African Local Government Association, which represents municipalities, said in June it is willing to boost pay by 11.5 percent, according to Bloomberg. The labor union and the Independent Municipal and Allied Trade Union, which has 60,000 members, rejected the proposal.
“The strike has been called indefinitely” until workers demands are met, Nhlapo said. “It is not our wish to go on strike, but the employer has forced us to do so,” the same source reported.
Last week there were violent protests over the lack of housing, water and electricity in the poorest townships, as BBC gives information, Analysts say the strikes and unrest are the first major challenges for new President Jacob Zuma. He has called for understanding from workers, but the BBC's Jonah Fisher in Johannesburg says crowd-pleasing promises he made during his election campaign are proving hard to keep.
BBC correspondent says a pledge to create 500,000 new jobs has already been retracted.
Workers were gathering in downtown Johannesburg, where streets were already gridlocked due to a power cut that hit much of the city centre, according to AFP. The strike left bus passengers scrambling to find their own transport, but local authorities insisted that essential services like emergency response and refuse collection would not be affected.
Dale Forbes, from the South African Municipal Workers Union (Samwu), said most members had gone on strike from 0700 (0500 GMT). He said he was confident the public was backing the strike, BBC informed. "They want to see dramatic improvements in service delivery – which must start with improvements in the conditions of the workers," he said.
South Africa has seen a series of strikes over the last month, including a major strike by doctors who demanded better wages and improved working conditions in public hospitals, according to AFP.
Zuma took power in May after an election campaign in which he pledged to ease poverty, as BBC reported. He was supported by the main union federation, Cosatu, and the South African Communist Party which wanted a change in the previous administration's economic policies, which they said were too pro-business.
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