Harare, (New Ziana) – The government offered a 25 percent salary increase for its workers effective April following a meeting with employee representatives on Friday, parties to the talks said.

The talks, the first to be held this year, followed confrontation between the two parties, with the employees having threatened to embark on a strike.

The salary hike proposal, which the workers turned down, takes the salary for the lowest paid employee to ZWL$16 752 while that for the highest paid who are not in management move to ZWL$33 647 from ZWL$28 168.

“The government offer does not even whisper to our demands which we have been tabling since we started negotiations post the dollarized era of October 2018, the civil servants representative body, the Zimbabwe Confederation of Public Sector Trade Unions (ZCPSTU) said after the meeting.

The workers want government to pay them an equivalent of US$520 in local currency at the prevailing auction rate, which was the salary the lowest paid took home three years ago.

The Public Service Commission (PSC), which represents government, said the meeting was “constructive,” with another likely to be held next week.

“Negotiations between government and its workforce began in earnest and in a cordial and constructive atmosphere as the government team and workers representatives exchanged notes on a Cost of Living Adjustment and on other matters relating to the welfare of civil servants,” said PSC Secretary, Ambassador Jonathan Wutawunashe.
New Ziana