LIVINGSTONE MARUFU
Civil servants have called upon the government to expedite the disbandment of the National Joint Negotiating Council (NJNC) amid accusations that the employer is abusing the platform to its advantage while neglecting the interests of workers.
Apex Council secretary David Dzatsunga told Business Times that the NJNC has since lost its way and therefore should be dissolved.
“In terms of the social dialogue framework, we should move away from NJNC which is a consultative forum to a collective Bargaining Chamber where we meet as equals. Under NJNC, the government representatives say they are going to consult but they will just disappear into thin air and the next day you just see an amount which you have not discussed,” Dzatsunga said.
Recently, Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare minister Paul Mavima confirmed that the government was replacing the council with the CBC.
“We are in the process of creating a CBC to replace the NJNC. I, therefore, call upon you all to give your views on this exciting development and to ensure that you contribute meaningfully to this process,” Mavima said.
But to date, nothing has been done.
Public workers’ labour bodies accused the government of hand-picking “its proxies” to attend NJNC to deliberately frustrate their fight for improved working conditions, including demands for US$ indexed salaries.
The development comes as the government made a US$25 increment to civil servants to give a total of US$200.
Various sections of workers dismissed the increment as a joke, a situation that threatened more confrontation with the employer.
Also, wages in local currency remained static.
“Government offered a US$25 without workers’ consultation and the workers have rejected that amount describing the increment as too little. Dialogue is still ongoing as we are still expecting the government representatives,’ said Dzatsunga..
“The government is promising to pay US$200 in October but it has not attended to the ZWL component which has remained static. The medical aid covers, funeral policies and other levies have increased in ZWL$ at a time the local currency remained static and this has left the amount eroded.”
Added Dzatsunga: “If they had been on CBC we would have negotiated for the increase of both components but because it is NJNC the government has the upper hand and is dictating the pace.”
He said the RTGS has depreciated and needs an urgent increment.
The government’s lowest-paid worker is getting ZWL$36000 per month, an amount which workers described as a pittance.
Government workers are demanding a pre-October 2018 salary level of US$540 a month saying their low salary no longer matches the rising cost of living.
The country’s cost of living for a family of six surged 263% to ZWL$274 858.75 in the month of August from ZWL$75 757.62 in January following price hikes triggered by market jitters stemming from currency volatility, according to the Consumer Council of Zimbabwe.
