Civil Servants "Incapacitated", Vow To Escalate Salary Demands To Mnangagwa
Civil servants have threatened to engage President Emmerson Mnangagwa directly over their demand for a salary increment if the Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Paul Mavima ignores their request to meet at the negotiating table soon.
Speaking at a belated Workers Day Commemorations organised by the Zimbabwe Confederation of Public Sector Trade Union (ZCPSTU) in Harare on Friday, union secretary general David Dzatsunga said they have written to Mavima notifying the Government that they were now financially incapacitated to continue reporting for duty.
Dzatsunga also said they requested for an urgent National Joint Negotiating Council (NJNC) meeting with their employer to discuss civil servants’ demand for a salary increment. ZimLive quoted Dzatsunga as saying:
Just yesterday (Thursday), we served notice to the Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare of our incapacitation.
The minister has our letter, where we notified him that workers are now incapacitated to report for duty.
Incapacitation does not refer to a strike; it’s just the fact that the economic situation has gone bad.
We have also requested an urgent NJNC (National Joint Negotiating Council) meeting to discuss the way forward concerning our situation.
We have also said that if that does not happen, we need to escalate that by writing to the President.
We are waiting for the minister (of Public Service) to respond to us then we come up with the next strategy.
Civil servants are currently earning US$250 in allowances in addition to about ZWL$200 000 but they are demanding US$840 per month for the lowest-paid Government employee.
The call comes as prices of goods and services have been increasing rapidly, with most shops and service providers pegging prices on the parallel market exchange rate which has rendered a 100% pay hike for civil servants last month meaningless.
More: Pindula News
