UNION ULTIMATUM
Meet our demands or we strike, say teachers
The South African Democratic Teachers Union has given the Department of Basic Education and the Department of Higher Education and Training seven days to respond to its demands or face a full national strike. The union’s 260,000 members make up about two-thirds of SA’s public education teaching workforce. The union’s demands range from pay disparity issues to issues of working conditions. On Tuesday, about 10,000 union members marched to the departments’ offices in Pretoria, demanding a pay-scale progression of 1.5% to match the recompense received by other public servants. The union said that since 2009, teachers had been receiving 0.5% less than other state employees on their pay scale. Pay progression, which considers factors such as performance, competency and market rates, is the movement of an employee’s salary within a pay range. At the union’s national general council two weeks ago, Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga promised she would make a serious push for the final...
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