An arrogant government shows it just doesn't care

Furthermore, the unions would have the three percent allocated in a pyramid format - with the lowly paid getting about 12 percent and the highly paid such as permanent secretaries, judges, the Permanent Secretary to the President (PSP) and the Director of Public Service Management (DPSM) getting the lowest raise or nothing.

Government said it needed time to consider the unions' demands. To any sensible person, the unions' stance offered everyone an opportunity to do the right thing. Here was a very small window of opportunity that allowed everyone to crawl through and get away with their dignity intact. It was a window that would see the strike ending.This was the one window that would see service delivery restored and the economy recover.