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Pamela Shumba Chronicle Reporter
CIVIL servants are optimistic of a salary increment next month after the Government noted their submissions at yesterday’s meeting in Harare.Union leaders came out hopeful from the deliberations after meeting Government representatives for the first time as a united body since the inauguration of the Zanu-PF Government after the July 31 harmonised election landslide victory.
The Apex Council, which brings together union leaders, wants the least paid Government worker to earn a salary commensurate with the Poverty Datum Line, now pegged at $540. At the moment the least paid Government worker earns $279 per month.
Apex Council alternate chair and Public Service Association president Cecilia Alexander said yesterday’s meeting marked the path towards progress.
She said: “We are happy that the meeting took off as scheduled and we presented our expectations. This shows a bit of progress but we would have appreciated it if the Government also brought a presentation on what it would do for its workers. This meeting showed us that the Government was not prepared for the negotiations.
We, however, hope that it would be ready with answers soon because we want better salaries for the civil servants at least before the end of January next year.”
Alexander said unions were optimistic that Government would fulfil the promise of a “token” salary increment made by President Mugabe in the run-up to the elections.
“We also made a follow-up on the promise made by President Mugabe. We know him to be a man of his words and we are hopeful that the promise would be fulfilled. We will continue with the negotiations in good faith,” she said adding, “We are happy with the Government’s commitment to link its workers’ salaries with the PDL but we want clarity on the issue of staggering the salaries. We want to know if they would be staggered annually or quarterly.”
Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) secretary general, Raymond Majongwe said he was hopeful that the negotiations would bring joy to the underpaid Government workers.
“We are happy that the Government is committed to improving the welfare of civil servants although we were expecting them to spell out a few things to reassure us of their commitment,” Majongwe said.
“We are eagerly waiting for the next meeting and we hope all our concerns would be considered. We are looking at this issue as a matter of urgency.”
He said the Apex Council was also expecting the Government to look into the issue of labour reforms, outstanding projects and pensions.
Union leaders said the next meeting was scheduled for the first week of next month, at which the Government is expected to present new salary structure and respond to concerns raised by its workers.
Civil servants want 30 percent of their basic salary as a rural allowance to cushion those working outside urban centres. Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Minister Cde Nicholas Goche could not be reached on his mobile phone for comment yesterday.
Provision of non-monetary incentives and better pension allowances was also part of the civil servants’ concerns. Presenting the 2014 National Budget, Finance and Economic Development Minister Cde Patrick Chinamasa re-affirmed government’s commitment to adjustment civil servants salaries and improving their conditions of service.
Teachers Union of Zimbabwe chief executive, Mr Manuel Nyawo, told our Harare Bureau that they expected Government to come up with a figure.
“We presented our position paper to Government but we were disappointed that because we go to that meeting with high hopes only to discover that Government was not even ready to give us a figure in terms of salary increment. What we discovered is that Government is not yet ready to fulfil its obligation in terms of its promise.
“Again, this idea of sending some middle managers to resolve this issue is not proper because they do not make binding decisions and it is time consuming.”
Mr Nyawo said they expected Government to resolve the issue of salaries before the opening of schools on January 13 2014.
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