By Jon Herskovitz
PRETORIA (Reuters) - South Africa cannot afford pay demands from thousands of public service workers and hopes a deal can be reached next week before a strike widens to nearly a million workers, a minister said on Friday.
Thousands of workers from the Public Servants Association union walked off the job on Thursday, causing little impact so far to Africa's biggest economy. But that could change if the country's biggest labour group makes good on its threat to join the strike next week, which could cripple commerce.
Public Service and Administration Minister Richard Baloyi told reporters that unions representing the workers had until August 4 to agree to the government's latest offer.
"The pen is dropping on Wednesday. If it isn't dropping, the ink dries. We have to put this issue behind us," he said.
The government had other priorities that included building schools, roads and police stations, and any additional spending on wages would stretch sparse resources too thinly, he said.
"There is no leader in South Africa who will say that the government should stop increasing the number of police, nurses, teachers and other categories of public servants in order to use the money that the government has to pay for the salary increments for existing public servants," he said.
Baloyi said the government had already exceeded its budget with its initial offer, and might try to impose its wage increase plans if talks fail with unions.
Analysts expect a deal tilted in favour of the unions' demands, which would head off a mass labour action, since the government usually buckles in wage negotiations with organised labour, a long-time ally of the ruling African National Congress (ANC).
Reuters Africa
