Sars strike ‘indefinite’ - Nehawu
Trade union Nehawu has warned that the strike at the South African Revenue Service will go indefinitely unless it comes up with an improved wage offer.
Workers belonging to trade unions Nehawu and the Public Servants Association are set to down tools on Thursday - if workers don't get the pay increase they're asking for.
They want an 11.4% hike while Sars is offering 7%.
Sars has since put contingency plans in place to ensure services are not disrupted.
Nehawu’s deputy general secretary December Mavuso addressed the media in Johannesburg on Wednesday, saying the ball is now in Sars’ court.
"Of course if Sars was to come back to us this evening, as we were open to engaging since Monday and whole day yesterday. The ball is in their court and when we left the meeting we made it clear that you know where we're standing it’s up to the employer to come back to us. If they can come back to us with an attractive offer that can be taken to our members, we'll definitely report to members in the picket lines. But the strike is on, it can't be called off at night."
He said they believe the strike will be effective because workers from the PSA are also downing tools.
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"As we said our members are highly mobilised, a lot has been going on in Sars. Not just because of the dispute of salaries but the rest of the things that have been happening. So for that reason workers are prepared to fight to protect their rights. We expect our strike to be effective more so because the strike jointly with PSA, we are together in all of these issues."
Mavuso dismissed a claim by Sars that an 8% agreement was reached on Tuesday night.
"If there was an agreement we were going to say so. The reason we're saying we've proceeded with the strike is because there's no agreement. They've been flip-flopping yesterday, they have been changing positions."
The union will only consider the 8% offer if it’s delinked from the three-year multi-term agreement.
"If we were to consider the three-year agreement starting at 8% you're going to have to have to buy the next two years. Meaning it has to be an attractive [offer] so we know we are locking ourselves in something that has to be attractive. Currently multi-term is not attractive."
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