Five-week social services strike ends after overnight negotiations
The National Education‚ Health and Allied Workers Union (Nehawu) and the Department of Social Development have entered into an agreement to end the five-week social services strike. This followed overnight negotiations, which Nehawu spokesperson Khaya Xaba described as lengthy. "We signed the agreement at around 3am and we started negotiations at 11am yesterday‚" he said on Wednesday. Although an agreement has been reached‚ Xaba said the difficult task of demobilising workers still has to be done: "We still need to iron out our issues in relation to our members and see if they agree to the terms. Emotions are high. It’s easy to mobilise workers around a demand but it’s difficult to demobilise them." The union had laid out 13 demands before the department following failed attempts to have these met in August 2015. Among them are higher entry-level salaries for department employees and the introduction of rural allowances. Xaba said the policy that determined salaries and the introduc...
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