World

Massive Strike In South Africa

August 24, 1999 / 1:03 PM EDT / AP

Unions called for the biggest strike since apartheid and thousands of public workers marched through the capital to challenge President Thabo Mbeki's new government over wage increases.

Two armored police vehicles shadowed the protesters and police and soldiers lined the march route through the capital, but the atmosphere was peaceful. Marchers, some carrying banners that read Â"Negotiate in good faith,Â" sang as they headed for the Union Buildings, where the offices of Mbeki and many other government officials are located.

Union members also gathered in other cities across South Africa to push their wage-hike demands.

Twelve unions representing 800,000 teachers, nurses, prosecutors and other public employees were staging the one-day strike, forcing many public offices to operate with skeleton staffs and keeping thousands of schoolchildren at home.

Â"I'm all alone here,Â" said Leon Erasmus, who works for the provincial government in the eastern city of Grahamstown. Normally, he said, there would be 36 people in the office.

At Johannesburg General Hospital, patients waited up to seven hours for treatment.

The twelve unions decided to strike after labor unions and Mbeki's new government failed to agree on wage increases for public employees.

Underscoring the social change in South Africa, white workers joined the strike. Under apartheid, such workers were virtually guaranteed the best jobs at higher pay.

The Federation of Unions of South Africa, 40 percent of whose half-million members are white, supported the strike along with the 2-million-member Congress of South African Trade Unions, a predominantly black group.

Â"It's historic that we're taking a joint initiative at this magnitude,Â" Chez Milani, general-secretary of The Federation of Unions of South Africa, declared in a telephone interview.

If the one-day strike fails to make the government increase the wage offers, the unions said they will meet to stage other actions.