Striking public servants in Cape Town on Thursday said their demands for better salaries were perfectly justified.

Hundreds of workers marched to Parliament on the first day of a nationwide public service strike called by the Public Servants Association (PSA).

Strikers’ placards said it all; one read: “6.5 percent is a joke”, while another accused government of not caring.

Once at Parliament, a PSA official read out a memorandum of demands.

Unionist Koos Kruger warned the state the industrial action will drag on for as long as is necessary.

“This is not a one day strike and it is not a little march, it is the beginning and from here it will escalate,” said Kruger.

Other unions are also gearing up to join the strike. The PSA has not ruled out secondary strikes in other sectors.