The Zimbabwean Government has bowed to pressure and agreed to consider another adjustment on civil servants’ salaries after teachers threatened a full-blown strike last week as their employer moved to effect a no-work-no-salary policy.
The Public Service minister, Paul Mavima confirmed the development in the Senate saying the government was considering another “slight adjustment” to the “staggered 70%” wage offer tabled last month, which civil servants have rejected.
He however, insisted that the salaries would be in local currency as the government had no capacity to pay United States dollar-indexed salaries.
“With regard to salaries, the government is working out to ensure that workers are motivated properly, but the workers should also appreciate efforts that are being made by the government.
According to our revenue at the moment, it is not possible for us to go beyond what we have already offered,” Mavima said.Last November, Mavima accused civil servants of making outrageous demands.
Teachers, who make up the bulk of civil servants, are demanding between US$520 and US$550 or their equivalent in the local currency. They are currently earning between $17 000 and $22 000, which they say is below the poverty datum line.In March, the government agreed to adjust its workers’ salaries, offering a 70% staggered adjustment, which saw civil servants this month getting 25% of the offer.
Their unions told NewsDay that they had lost faith in the negotiations.
“We have negotiated enough and nobody seems to care. We are being considered as workers who do not deserve attention as if to mean we are a nuisance”.
“The best we can say is that we are condemned employees. We have been neglected like mercenary prisoners of war and the only solution before us is to show that we are human beings worth surviving, like the members of Parliament who are demanding more than $72 000. We need to rise up and be counted,” Zimbabwe National Teachers Union chief executive Manuel Nyawo said.
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