admin
Lloyd Gumbo Herald Reporter
Many civil servants, especially teachers, do not aspire to be promoted because the salary difference is so insignificant and can be as little as US$1 as experience, seniority and qualifications are not taken into account.The revelation is contained in a position paper by the Apex Council — an umbrella body representing all State employees — that was presented to Government through the National Joint Negotiating Council last week.
Since formalisation of the multi-currency system in early 2009, many employers have not implemented significant salary differences between grades according to experience, seniority or qualifications; and this includes Government.
“Currently, difference between one step and the next step for teachers, for instance those who fall under the d1 category — straight from college — is about US$1 per year, while they get an increment of US$5 after five years,” said Zimta chief executive officer Mr Sifiso Ndlovu.
“That is what we want to be corrected because at the moment there is no incentive for junior teachers to aspire to be promoted because the salary difference is insignificant.
“The difference is about US$5 (after five years) yet if one is a senior teacher they can be acting headmaster in the absence of the head and the deputy.
“It is for that reason that some teachers are reluctant to be promoted because more responsibilities mean they may end up spending the little they are getting for school business.”
The position paper, signed by Apex Council team leader Mr Richard Gundane, calls for an urgent decompression of grades that takes into cognisance experience, seniority and qualifications.
Government workers want this to be implemented through next month’s negotiations on their conditions of service.
The position paper welcomes commitments shown by President Mugabe and Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Minister Nicholas Goche to increase their salaries.
“The political will, so demonstrated by the Government makes us trust that these issues will find resolutions with no hassles at all. We look forward to a harmonious working environment with yourselves so that ultimately the goal of meeting the expectation of the generality of civil servants in Zimbabwe will be fulfilled.”
The paper goes on to say, “Civil service workers in Zimbabwe have suffered financial prejudice due to inadequate remuneration since the economic meltdown,” reads the position paper.
“The majority of employees in the General Key Scale have earned remuneration below the poverty datum line by at least 50 percent. This has reduced civil servants to poor and pathetic workers in the country.
“Past collective bargaining attempts in the GNU (Government of National Unity) period have been inconclusive and this did not engender any hopes at all.
“In light of these observations, we the civil service workers represented by the above unions (Colaz, CSEA, Protec, PSA, PTUZ, TUZ, Zimta, Ziloa and ZRTU) table our demands for an urgent review of salaries and conditions of service for the period beginning 01 January 2014.”
Considering that 70 percent of Zimbabweans live in rural areas, Government workers say, most civil servants find themselves operating outside towns and cities.
To that end, they want Government to incentivise, attract and retain civil servants in rural areas by pegging the Rural Service Allowance at 30 percent of their monthly salaries.
Government workers also say the majority of them have no houses, resulting in them paying rentals from their low pay cheques.
To cut those costs, they propose that Government urgently avail land for residential housing for civil servants.
They also want the Civil Service Investment Trust to be activated so that they can participate in indigenisation and economic empowerment programmes.
“In conclusion, we believe that if the above issues are addressed urgently, then the morale, industrial harmony and productivity of the Government employees will be increased,” they contend.
Online Reporter