Civil servants yesterday accepted the 41 percent salary increase by Government, including allowances, with teachers getting an additional 10 percent risk allowance, breaking the ongoing impasse. This opens the way for the newly reopened schools to be fully staffed soon, with all teachers expected to be back in their classrooms this week.
The latest increase will see the least- paid civil servant
earning about $14 500 while the lowest-paid teacher will earn a little over $18
000.
Most teachers will now be returning to duty after the
Zimbabwe Teachers Association (Zimta), the largest and oldest teachers union,
yesterday advised all its members to return to work while the association
continues to press for improvements in conditions of service.
In a statement, Zimta national secretary-general Mr Tapson
Nganunu Sibanda said they expected teachers who live at or near their schools,
or at least in the same town or city, to be back in their classrooms this week
while the association expected those that have a long way to travel to report
as soon as they had received November salaries and so had the money for
transport.
Teachers should contact their schools and tell them when
they will be reporting for duty and why there might be a delay. The education
authorities already knew about those who needed to get their salary before
travelling long distances.
In an interview yesterday after a meeting of the National
Joint Negotiating Council (NJNC), Apex Council chairperson Mrs Cecilia
Alexander confirmed the deal. She said Government had increased the basic
salary only, but they finally settled for increments which include allowances.
“We have agreed to a cost of living adjustment to be paid
as follows: an average salary increase of 41 percent of the total package that
is the basic salary, transport and housing allowances plus special civil
service allowance. It is going to be effective from November 1, 2020,” she
said.
Mrs Alexander said the bonus for 2020, which is paid over
two months, was going to be based on the basic salary plus transport and
housing allowances.
While the civil servants had accepted the offer, Mrs
Alexander said they trusted the Government would continue prioritising their
welfare in the coming year. The Government has already made it clear that while
it will not borrow or print money to pay civil servants, and so scupper the
hard-won economic stability, it will continue as it has been doing this year to
improve pay and benefits as tax revenues rise.
Mrs Alexander said a well defined roadmap for civil
servants would be crafted in January next year.
“We have settled for the offer because we are now getting
at the end of the year and Government is also going to be paying us bonuses for
two months. What it means is that if we had refused the offer, civil servants
were going to lose bonuses or get paid using calculations of the previous
salary structure,” she said.
Mrs Alexander said while the civil servants’ proposal to be
paid according to the value of salaries in October 2018 was not met, they
settled for the increase in good faith hoping that next year would bring better
fortunes.
In its statement last night Zimta made it clear that it
expected the authorities to back-peddle on disciplinary action as teachers who
considered themselves to be incapacitated to work reported to their schools and
that there would be no “overzealous” action. Zimta, like other unions, said it
would continue to press for more improvements in pay and conditions of service.
“ZIMTA remains actively engaged in the search of improved
conditions of service, salaries and allowances and is now putting together 2021
strategies, taking into cognisance 2020 setbacks,” said Mr Sibanda.
Zimbabwe Nurses Association secretary-general Mr Enock
Dongo, who heads the nursing union that has held out the longest, said nurses
welcomed the increment awarded by the Government but still wanted a further
improvement.
“It is a welcome development by Government and we really
appreciate the increment they have offered. It is however, not yet enough to
cater for the cost of living. We expect more. But like I said, this is a
positive step and we really appreciate it,” said Mr Dongo.
However, the vast majority of nurses in the public sector
had already resumed full-time duties, with hospital chief executives playing a
major role in both getting staff to end industrial action while themselves
pressing for improvements in conditions of service. Only a little over 1 000,
around 3 percent of the total, were still holding out for limited duties.
Finance and Economic Development Minister Professor Mthuli Ncube has repeatedly assured the nation that measures put in place to insulate the local currency against erosion, are sustainable with the auction system working very well to create a stable base, so inflation recedes as a serious problem. But he has also stressed that while he wants to see civil servants properly rewarded he needs to maintain the fiscal discipline that has created the basis for the new stability and the launchpad for sustained and viable economic growth. Herald
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