Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi yesterday accused the government of being "disingenuous", and promised a total shutdown of the country if it did not "come to its senses" over the public-service strike.

Cosatu likened Cabinet ministers who lived "caviar lifestyles" to "the shepherd feeding himself, forgetting about the lambs".

The union federation said that all affiliated unions would submit notices to their employers on Thursday, which would "allow them legal right to embark on a secondary strike" by late next week.

Vavi said during a briefing at Cosatu House in Braamfontein, Johannesburg, yesterday that workers were not confused by lies and misinformation.

"They know what is a pay progression - that they have to go through an evaluation four times annually for the government or the supervisors to recommend that they be given that extra 1.5% in the case of all public-service workers. So that made them even more angry to see that the government is completely disingenuous to say the least."

He criticised the SABC for broadcasting "nonsense", a reference to government spokesman Themba Maseko's comments that the state's offer was about 8.5% when an extra 1.5% in pay progression was taken into account. The union federation demanded that the SABC apologise for "broadcasting inaccurate news to the public".

Vavi then laid into the ordinary South Africans who had spent time volunteering to help at hospitals and schools around the country, accusing them of "scabbing".

"Volunteering for a stipend is scabbing. Scabbing is an international word meant to explain exactly that - when you come and take jobs of workers who are in a legal strike. Yes, you can work with us in order to ensure that no lives are lost . but please don't cross the picket line," he said.

After more than 100 strikers were arrested on Monday, Vavi urged members of the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) and the SA Policing Union "not to allow the employer to use them to crush the strike".

Popcru accused the police and Metro Police of "real state brutality" towards their members during protests outside hospitals and schools .

In a statement yesterday, it said: "Our contention is that all has been applied in terms of the law, but we continue to see police officers provoking workers at the picket line . hitting, arresting and shooting peaceful marchers."