Thousands strike at South African phone group Telkom

By Michael Georgy

JOHANNESBURG, Aug 3

Thousands of workers at South African fixed-line telephone group Telkom began striking on Monday, the Communications Workers Union said, the latest industrial action to hit the country despite recession.

The protest at Telkom, Africa's biggest fixed-line phone operator, began only days after the end of a five-day strike by tens of thousands of council workers that saw rubbish pile up on the streets and key services paralysed.

The Communication Workers Union (CWU), which represents 44,000 workers, said over 3,500 Telkom workers in four of South Africa's nine provinces began the two-day strike to push their demands for pay increases.

"We expect that quite a sizable number of our members will heed the call for a stayaway," CWU General-Secretary Gallant Roberts told Reuters.

He said workers picketed Telkom offices in four provinces.

The wave of strikes in South Africa have challenged President Jacob Zuma's economic policies over the past month, as the unions that helped bring him to power in April elections flexed their muscles, seeking a payback for their support.

Metalworkers Threat

South Africa's National Union of Metalworkers (NUMSA) threatened "radical measures" if state power utility Eskom did not meet its wage demands.

"This might include pulling off the plug and unleashing a blackout if need be. But we do not want to get to that point although Eskom is pushing us to that direction," NUMSA said in a statement.

Zuma is in a difficult position. He is indebted to unions that are a crucial part of his support base, but raising government spending could worry foreign investors in the midst of South Africa's first recession since 1992.

To end the council strike, officials agreed a 13 percent pay rise, just below the 15 percent demanded by the unions and almost double the inflation rate.

Further double-digit pay settlements in the private and public sectors would put added strain on Africa's biggest economy, compounding the impact of a 31.3 percent increase in electricity prices last month which drove inflation higher.

Pressure on the government has also come from poor township residents, who have demonstrated to back their demands for better living conditions for millions of blacks who still lack adequate housing, electricity and water 15 years after the end of apartheid.

(Reuters)