A MEETING to end the SABC strike was aborted yesterday when union representatives rejected management's negotiation team.

The Communication Workers Union and the Media Workers Association of SA (Mwasa) were due to meet management at 2pm yesterday but called it off because the SABC had sent a negotiating team and not "group executives" as the unions had expected, said Mwasa general secretary Ernest Dlamini.

"We chased them away," Dlamini said. "We want management to be involved - like they were from day one."

Dlamini said talking directly with SABC executives was the only way to advance wage talks.

""We are in a deadlock. You can't break a deadlock with people who don't have a mandate."

However, SABC spokesperson Kaizer Kganyago said the negotiating team had a mandate and the unions were notified of this on Monday.

He said the team had arrived with a fresh proposal but the unions did not hear it because they refused to talk.

Dlamini countered that the negotiation team had not been "fully briefed".

"We believe that this was a delaying tactic," said Dlamini.

The labour court in Johannesburg dismissed a bid by the SABC last week to stop the workers from striking throughout the country..