Sita strike drags on as talks deadlock

October 19, 2023 Siyabonga Mtangana

Public Servants Association (PSA)-affiliated workers continue their strike action at the State IT Agency (Sita) after negotiations deadlocked on Thursday.

Sita has described the offer it gave striking employees on Monday as “final”. Meanwhile, PSA-affiliated workers are still not showing up for duty after the union rejected Monday offer, opting instead to picket outside of the agency’s offices.

“There is still a stalemate between our 7.5% demand against Sita’s 5% that was said to be the final offer on Monday this week,” PSA chief negotiator Zamani Dlala told TechCentral. “However, in the bargaining forum yesterday (Wednesday), we presented some options to them that might bring the parties closer.”

According to Dladla, worker representatives are expected to present these options the board for consideration later on Thursday.

He said Sita pleaded with the PSA to consider suspending the strike until the next bargaining forum meeting, but the union rejected this.

Read: Minister urges speedy end to Sita strike

“I will not go into detail regarding the options as they still a subject of negotiations,” said Dladla.

Following internal meetings at Sita on Thursday, spokesman Tlali Tlali said: “The situation has not changed. We are all on standby and waiting for the conclusion of our internal consultations.” — © 2023 NewsCentral Media