Johannesburg — THE Johannesburg Labour Court has indicted the Gauteng education department from making any more deductions from teachers' salaries where these are linked to the month-long public sector strike.

The indictment would stand until tomorrow , when the court would hear full argument on whether the department had made unlawful deductions from teachers' salaries, said attorney Louw Erasmus, who represented the Suid Afrikaanse Onderwysersunie.

The union wanted the Labour Court to declare "unlawful" the deductions the department had made from teachers' salaries from September.

The indictment prevents the State Information Technology Agency from making further deductions from teachers' pay until the matter against Gauteng education MEC Angie Motshekga and her department's head, Mallele Petje, is finalised .

"The court wanted to understand the technicalities," said Gauteng education spokeswoman Kate Bapela.

The union had won against both the Limpopo and KwaZulu-Natal education departments, with a court order against the KwaZulu-Natal department and an out-of-court settlement reached with the Limpopo department, Ersamus said.

In both cases, the state was ordered to pay costs.

The union last week rejected a request for a settlement from the Gauteng state attorneys because the terms of the legal agreement reached with the Limpopo education department, in which that department undertook to repay teachers by November 3, had not been honoured, said Erasmus.

"We will have the Limpopo agreement made a court order in the next few days," he said.

The deductions were allegedly linked to the month-long public service strike. However, the union said none of its teachers downed chalk for more than one day -- June 1, the first day of the strike -- and the department had deducted up to 13 days' salary.