Cape Argus
*Teachers' strike looms* *Ilse Fredericks, Cape Argus, Cape Town, 21 July 2010*With only 95 days left before the start of the 2010 National Senior Certificate exams, a teacher strike is looming.
Mugwena Maluleke, general secretary of the South African Democratic Teachers Union (Sadtu), said the union was consulting its members on the government's offer, and getting a mandate from them on what their next step should be.
This process should be completed by Friday."If the employer is not moving, then a strike will be what we are left with," he said.
After Friday, Sadtu executive meetings would be held at regional and provincial levels to consolidate the views of members, before the national executive committee would make the final decision on the way forward.
The state has offered a 6.5 percent salary increase, with unions demanding 8.6 percent.
Unions have also demanded an increase in the monthly housing allowance, from R500 to R1 000, but the state has offered R620.
A deadlock in negotiations between unions and the state has not been broken and, at the end of June, unions indicated that a formal conciliation process between them and the state had been unsuccessful.
Should unions now decide to go on strike, they would have to give the state seven days' notice.
Asked whether the union was concerned about the impact of a strike on matric pupils, Maluleke said that if unions went on strike, this would be targeted against the employer and not the pupils.
"Our union is a responsible organisation and we have given the employer enough time and made ourselves available 24 hours.
"There should also be a sense of urgency on their side to say, if teachers go on strike, what about the matriculants?"
Chris Klopper, chief executive of the South African Teachers Union, said yesterday that about 62 percent of its members, who participated in a ballot, had indicated that they were in favour of industrial action.
The union has about 28 000 members in the country.Klopper said members were now voting to determine what form of industrial action they wanted.
If they strike, members would exercise their labour rights without infringing on pupils' rights.
Ezrah Ramasehla, president of the National Professional Teachers Organisation of SA, said the union would wait until after a meeting between government ministers and unions, expected to take place later this week, before deciding whether to proceed with a ballot.
Dumisani Nkwamba, spokesman for Public Service and Administration Minister Richard Baloyi, said internal consultations within the government were taking place to avert the strike and resolve the dispute.
"We don't want any disruptions in schools, particularly not for matrics."He confirmed that Baloyi and other ministers would meet the leadership of the unions at the end of the week.
*From: http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=105&art_id=vn20100721131520225C339494 <http://www.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=105&art_id=vn20100721131520225C339494>*
-- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] .
<<image/gif>>
