Civil servants seek pay hike

Tinomuda Chakanyuka
CIVIL servants have written to Government requesting to meet Minister of State for Presidential Affairs and Monitoring of Government Programmes Simbarashe Mbengegwi over a possible salary review and general improvement of conditions of service.

Minister Mbengegwi is responsible for the administration of the public service. In an interview with The Sunday Mail, Apex Chairperson Mrs Cecilia Alexander confirmed the request adding that civil servants wanted the minister to consider increasing their salaries that have been eroded by price increases.

She said the civil servants wanted Government to cushion them from the obtaining economic environment.

“The value of civil servants’ earnings has been eroded by the price hikes and the four-tier pricing system. We are, therefore, requesting the Government to restore the value of what we earn. Civil servants’ salaries should be cushioned somehow,” she said.

The Sunday Mail is also in possession of a copy of a letter the Apex Council wrote to Minister Mumbengegwi, which says: “As we welcome you, we are having to ask you to put your shoulder on the wheel as there are weighty and urgent issues that have been waiting your appointment,” reads part of the letter.

The matters among others include; the rationalisation of the civil service and harmonisation of our labour environment.”

The civil servants asked the minister to attend to the pending issue of teachers’ vacation leave, which was cancelled in January 2016 as part of austerity measures.