Apex council leaders meet

The civil servants representatives gave Government up to the end of December to come up with a new salary structure.
In an interview yesterday Apex Council chairperson Ms Tendai Chikowore said they made consultations between union leaders and they would meet today.

“There has not been any movement on Government’s part since we last met on December 16. Government is not ready and we might not be able to meet the end of the month target we had set for negotiations,” Ms Chikowore said.

She said there was a possibility that the meeting would extend the December 31 deadline at today’s meeting.
“We are meeting tomorrow (today) to discuss a number of things including the issue of salaries,” Ms Chikowore said.

The meeting could extend the deadline to end of January next year.
Civil servants are demanding a minimum salary in line with the Poverty Datum Line which is pegged at US$540. Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has said an increase in civil servants’ salaries was dependent on diamond sales.

Government representatives last month could not produce a position paper and this did not go down well with the union leaders. The civil servants representatives handed their position paper to Government at the meeting spelling out their expectations. Teachers unions yesterday issued a warning that failure by Government to review their salaries would affect the 2012 educational calendar.

Zimta chief executive officer Mr Sifiso Ndlovu said they expected something tangible from Government.
“We are here in Harare to examine and to check on the progress made by Government on the issue. The borne of contention is Government’s failure to come up with a position paper on how on how they would pay us,” he said.