Two of the largest unions under labor federation Cosatu rejected the new wage offer by the South African government. NEHAWU, which represents more than 200,000 health care and service workers, and SADTU, the country's largest teachers union both announced that their members rejected the latest offer. the announcements come after Cosatu announced that it was suspending its call for a one day strike by its more than 2 million members to give striking state workers more time to ponder the offer. The general strike had the potential to shut down mining, manufacturing and other industries. SADTU and NEHAWU are both seen as having a large influence on other unions under Cosatu.
See "Major S.Africa state workers' union rejects pay deal", Peroshni Govender and Jon Herskovitz, Reuters, August 31, 2010