Civil servants yesterday staged a flash protest at the New Government Complex and marched to the Finance, Economic Development and Investment Promotion ministry offices in Harare, demanding that minister Mthuli Ncube prioritises salary increment in the upcoming mid-term budget statement.
The government
workers, under the banner of the Zimbabwe Confederation of Public Sector Trade
Unions (ZCPSTU), a labour organisation representing civil servants, sought an
audience with Ncube, saying they had gone for six months without a salary
review.
Some of the
worker representative bodies present were Zimbabwe Teachers Union, Progressive
Teachers
Union of Zimbabwe and the Zimbabwe National Union of School Heads, among others.
The workers
said their earnings had been eroded by inflation, with annual ZiG inflation
rising to 92,5% in June from 92,1% in May.
The civil
servants want Ncube to address their plight in his midterm fiscal policy
review.
ZCPSTU
secretary-general David Dzatsunga said the workers were unable to meet Ncube,
who was reportedly away on business, but they managed to have an audience with
his deputy, Kudak- washe Mnangagwa.
Dzatsunga said
they used the meeting to inform the government of workers’ frustration over the
six-month salary stagnation and pressed for urgent action in the upcoming
mid-term budget.
He said civil
servants were demanding a meaningful review that was in line with the rising
cost of living and restored their lost purchasing power.
“We wanted to
deliver our plea to the government that the midterm budget should include the
cost-of-living adjustment,” Dzatsunga said. “We believe that we received the
audience that we wanted and we presented our case. We hope that it will yield
the results that we want — that the government will consider.”
He added: “We
cannot say we have succeeded, but we are hopeful since we have received
audience. We don’t want a situation like that of last year, where there was no
provision for a salary increment. We have been promised that the relevant
government organs — the Ministry of Labour, Public Service Commission and the
Treasury — are seized with the matter and we will see how they are going to
deal with it. But we explained the urgency of the matter, because since
September last year, we have not had a salary review.”
Dzatsunga added
that the civil servants also submitted a written statement to the government
outlining their grievances and expectations ahead of the mid-term fiscal
review.
Part of the
statement read: “Honourable minister, the current wages we are getting are
failing to meet the basic needs of civil servants and it is our utmost plea
that you take cognisance of such needs and factor our welfare in your mid-term
budgetary provisions.”
The workers
also raised concern over the slow pace of government’s job evaluation exercise,
which they said had been used as a pretext to delay salary adjustments.
“Honourable
minister, we take note of the ongoing job evaluation exercise. Though we were
consulted minimally at a later stage, we feel a lot needs to be done towards
the whole process.
“In the midst
of us having no cost of living adjustment in the past six months on the pretext
that it would be effected once the job evaluation exercise is completed, we are
alive to the fact that US$32 million is lying idle for the cause.
“It is our call
to you that let that money be channelled towards the remuneration of civil
servants as we wait for the completion of the exercise, which in this case, as
workers, we have not played a part in its delay,” the statement further read.
Civil servants
have on several occasions demanded an audience with the government over a
salary review.
Talks under the
National Joint Negotiating Council have on a number of occasions ended in
deadlock as the government and its workers failed to agree. Newsday
0 comments:
Post a Comment