The Government has increased civil servants’ forex and local currency salary components with immediate effect.

Addressing a post-Cabinet media briefing on Tuesday, Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Minister Monica Mutsvangwa said the Government will continue negotiations with civil servants’ representatives to improve its employees’ welfare. She said:

Cabinet received a report on the status of negotiations held by the National Joint Negotiating Council on 7 July 2023 where it was agreed that the current offer of salary adjustments as proposed by Government be effected immediately.
The parties further agreed that consultations and negotiations will continue guided by the spirit of continued improvement of the welfare of the Civil Service.

The decision by the parties takes cognisance of the need to afford the measures being implemented by the fiscal authorities to take effect.

Zimbabwe Confederation of Public Sector Trade Unions (ZCPSTU), formerly Apex Council, secretary-general David Dzatsunga acknowledged the salary increase when contacted by the Chronicle, but declined to disclose the figures. He said:

The figures are not what we proposed as workers, but we want to believe they will still bring some relief to the plight of the civil servants.

Unfortunately, I cannot reveal how much of an increase it is because we took a position as a panel not to make the figures public after realizing that once they are made public, it triggers a lot of things on the market.

The government put across their proposal which fell short of ours, but seeing the plight of our members, we felt it was better for that to be implemented as we continue with the negotiations.

On Tuesday,  NewsDay cited sources who attended the NJNC meeting last Friday as saying the government had tabled an increment of US$50 hard cash and the equivalent of less than US$40 in local currency.

Civil servants have been advocating for a minimum of US$840 per month, a figure that went up from the initial bargaining amount of US$540.

More: Pindula News