South Africa Nears Deal With Unions

After almost three weeks on the picket lines, South Africa's trade unions on Monday suspended a strike that had closed schools and wreaked havoc on health care. Public health experts had warned about the strike's effects on the treatment, particularly for AIDS and TB, of millions of people too poor to access care through private hospitals. The government's proposed wage increase, 7.5 percent, is less than the 8.6 percent the unions demanded but still is double the rate of inflation. Some observers criticized the unions for seeking raises for workers who already have good jobs at the expense of the one-third of South Africans who remain unemployed. In order to pay for increased salaries and benefits for the 1.3 million affected workers, new hiring may have to be frozen, the government said.

Back to other news for September 2010