Pretoria - Government has on Thursday tabled another offer to unions in a bid to avert a full-blown strike by the public servants.
The new offer includes an increase in the housing allowance from R630 to R700 while the 7 percent increase towards salaries remains unchanged.
Department of Public Service and Administration spokesperson Dumisani Nkwamba told BuaNews that the unions are still considering the new offer.
"As government we are hopeful that they will accept the offer, it is reasonable. We are still open for further engagement with the unions," he said.
It is not yet known if the unions have accepted the new offer.
According to Nkwamba, government's new offer would be backdate from the 1 July 2010.
Last night, negotiations continued in the Public Service Co-ordinating Bargaining Council.
Public servants affiliated to Cosatu downed tools on Tuesday. They took to the streets and marched to Parliament in Cape Town and the Union Buildings in Pretoria.
The strike came after COSATU Public Service Unions and the Independent Labour Caucus last week rejected the revised offer tabled by government at the Public Service Bargaining and Co-ordinating Council.
The unions are demanding an 8.6 percent increase and a housing allowance of R1 000.
