The FNV trade union federation is facing a strike by its own staff, who are calling for an across-the-board pay rise in line with inflation.

The union’s own union has set a deadline of Monday 10am for an agreement, otherwise members will take industrial action.

The federation has offered a wage rise of between 3% and 7% from May, depending on salary scales, and a guaranteed 5% rise for all of its 1,650 members of staff from January 2024. In the following years, wages would rise in line with inflation, with a ceiling of 5%.

But the staff union say the deal is not the same as the automatic compensation for inflation which has been promised. ‘It is not as if inflation passed FNV staff by,’ local union chief Judith Westhoek said. ‘The federation itself has to set an example.’