South Africa unions lose support for strike

Signs of a further erosion of support for a three-week public sector strike over pay in South Africa emerged on Tuesday, one day before labour and government were due to resume talks aimed at ending the costly dispute.
Cracks emerged in the strike on Monday after two unions representing some 160,000 members withdrew from one of the largest mass actions in post apartheid South Africa. On Tuesday, the National Union of Public Service and Allied Workers announced it had withdrawn from the walkout.
"We had negotiation ranges when we started the strike which were from 7.5 percent to 9 percent, and the offer that we have on the table now is at the lower end of our ranges, so that is why we have decided to suspend the strike," said its general secretary, Success Mataitsane.
The head of the Western Cape wing of the powerful Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) said in a statement that COSATU and independent unions in the region would announce their withdrawal from the strike on Tuesday. At a press conference which illustrated the confusion and divisions among unions, a COSATU official later suggested the union's branch was not suspending its participation.
"Unfortunately the use of the word suspension may have been used in the wrong context," COSATU's Michael Louw said. Analysts say divisions between unions, may ease pressure on President Thabo Mbeki whose ruling African National Congress (ANC) begins a crucial policy conference on Wednesday.
"From experience we know that this means an end to the strike is near. This will strengthen the ANC and give the impression that it is in control in South Africa as it holds the policy meeting," said Susan Booysen, a political analyst at the University of Witwatersrand.
DEEP DIVISIONS Labour has accused Mbeki of promoting big business over the poor. South Africa's economy - the continent's biggest - is booming but civil servants complain their wages barely keep pace with inflation, currently at 6.3 percent.
Hundreds of thousands of workers have taken part in the strike that began in June 1 and has highlighted deep divisions between the ANC and its powerful trades union allies.
Unions, which collectively represent about 60 percent of the country's nearly one million public servants, have lowered their demands to a 9 percent increase. The government, which fears a dramatic wage hike would crowd out other spending, has tabled what it called its final proposal of 7.5 percent and told unions to take it or leave it.