Civil servants have threatened to go on strike starting next Tuesday in protest against government’s failure to address their demands for a salary review.
Tendai Chikowore, president of the civil servants’ representative body, Apex Council, told NewsDay yesterday the organisation’s affiliates met in Harare and resolved to down tools after their two-week ultimatum to government was ignored.
Chikowore said the government employees were particularly irked by Finance minister Tendai Biti’s failure to address their plight when he presented his Mid-Term Fiscal Policy review on Wednesday.
“Disgruntled by the announcement of the Mid-Term Policy statement and insulted by the arrogance of government that has demonstrated a propensity of living large yet claiming to be poor, the Apex Council has met today to decide the action to take,” Chikowore said.
“We have categorically and unequivocally rejected the announcement by the government as meaningless and highly provocative.
“The leadership of the Apex Council have therefore resolved to register all civil servants’ concerns through a massive demonstration on July 24, 2012.”
Two weeks ago, Apex Council, the umbrella body of all civil servants’ unions, gave government until yesterday to review its members’ salaries or face industrial action. In his policy review statement, Biti ruled out a salary increase and instead warned government risked defaulting on salary payments due to little cash inflows trickling into the national purse.
“Indeed, even in the absence of such reviews, government faces the real danger of defaulting on salary payments.
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“Hence, we need not take the current monthly payments for granted, but seriously appreciate the limited fiscal space for wage adjustments,” Biti said.
In May this year, civil servants’ leaders petitioned President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai to intervene after earlier attempts to force an increment hit a snag.
Civil servants last received a salary adjustment in January, which pushed the lowest-paid worker to earn $286 per month.
The workers are demanding a minimum salary which is above $560 per month.
