StellenboschStudent
Expert Member
There is something I don't understand with the current strike going on.
So the government put 7.0% on the table, but the unions want 8.6%. So that gives a difference of 1.6%.
I don't know what the average public sector worker gets, but lets say R120 000 per year. That gives a monthly salary of R10 000, and with about 20 working days in each month, that gives R500 per day. They have been striking for a week now, so they have already lost R2 500 of their salary. The 1.6% increase in their yearly salary is only R1560, so they have already lost more than they set to gain if the government goes up to 8.6%.
The housing subsidy I can understand, but from R760 to R1000 is a huge jump, can't see that happen.
But I actually, for once, agree with the strike. If the ministers didn't buy Mercs and BMWs and stayed in the Mount Nelson there maybe would have been enough money to go to 8% or something like that, so the government dug their own grave on this one...
So the government put 7.0% on the table, but the unions want 8.6%. So that gives a difference of 1.6%.
I don't know what the average public sector worker gets, but lets say R120 000 per year. That gives a monthly salary of R10 000, and with about 20 working days in each month, that gives R500 per day. They have been striking for a week now, so they have already lost R2 500 of their salary. The 1.6% increase in their yearly salary is only R1560, so they have already lost more than they set to gain if the government goes up to 8.6%.
The housing subsidy I can understand, but from R760 to R1000 is a huge jump, can't see that happen.
But I actually, for once, agree with the strike. If the ministers didn't buy Mercs and BMWs and stayed in the Mount Nelson there maybe would have been enough money to go to 8% or something like that, so the government dug their own grave on this one...