After a tense 2022, unions expected to ramp up fights next year

As a tense public service wage deadlock is expected to spill into 2023, labour relations are expected to get even more adversarial next year in other sectors too.

More than 4 million South Africans are now members of unions, from 3.5 million in 2013/14, according to Department of Employment of Labour. The number of registered unions also rose from 203 to 220 over the same period. 

As economic pressures in households grow due to rocketing food and fuel prices, as well as aggressive interest rate hikes, unions are aggressively fighting for higher salaries.