South African council workers started a strike to demand an 18 percent pay increase, said Tahir Sema, a spokesman for the South African Municipal Workers’ Union.
More than 200,000 employees in the municipal and water industries will stop working today, Sema said by phone from Johannesburg. The South African Local Government Association, which represents 278 councils across the country, said yesterday it can’t afford the pay rise demanded by labor unions. South Africa’s annual inflation was 5 percent in June.
“There are no meetings with the employers scheduled today or any time soon,” Sema said. “If they come to us with a reasonable offer and are prepared to meet with us, we’re prepared to call off the strike.”
Strikes have affected South Africa’s petroleum, mining and chemical industries in the last month
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-08-15/municipal-workers-in-south-africa-strike-over-18-salary-increase-dispute.html
[Story and quoted text from http://www.richgibson.com/blog/]
