Civil servants declare incapacitation

FAITH MADZINGA/LIVINGSTONE MARUFU

Civil servants have declared incapacitation to continue reporting  for duty  demanding government to swiftly act on their poor salaries amid rising prices of basic goods and services amid fears of a strike.

The government workers earn an average of  ZWL$30 000 a month plus US$175 in allowances.

The civil servants’ representative body, Apex Council, said the salary was no longer justifiable given the headwinds in the economy.

The Zimbabwe dollar continues to lose value against the greenback.

The Apex Council secretary, David Dzatsunga told Business Times that  the US$ salary of US$540 per month was the only long lasting solution to the salary problem.

“We are heavily incapacitated and there is an urgent need for authorities to act on that.

“We just hope that authorities attend to that and salaries must just be paid in US$, that is the only way forward as we map our way forward with the authorities,” Dzatsunga said.

He added: “If the authorities do not comply with the US$ demand that means there is no basis for dialogue because we are not being honest to each other.”

Some sections of teachers are planning to down  tools but Dzatsunga said this will be up to the workers on how they will handle the situation.

Dzatsunga said they represent the civil servants  and they need urgent results from the government as most were  living on  the margin as the economic woes continue to bite.

“Things are really hard for the workers in general with most failing to put basic food and necessities for their families on the table.

When a person goes to work they must be remunerated accordingly in a manner that is productive.

“Ordinarily when an employer employs it means they have the resources for their workers so that they keep on coming to work. This means if there is not enough resources or money to pay workers there should be limited recruitments at the organisation,” Dzatsunga said.

He believes that the economy is still able to pay people that are productive.

“We do not believe that the economy of Zimbabwe is crippled to the extent that it cannot pay people that are productive, it is only a matter of priorities,” Dzatsunga said.

Apex Council said the meeting that was supposed to take place last week did not take place and there is no set date for the National Joint Negotiating Committee meeting.

Recently, the government said it is going to look into civil servants salaries and see if they can review them upwards.

According to government sources, salary negotiations are expected by mid-May going into June and from there a concrete position will be taken.