Govt workers give notice to protest

Harare(New Ziana)-Civil servants unions umbrella body, the Apex Council said on Friday its members will march in the streets next Wednesday to protest the failure by the government to fulfill promises to improve their working conditions.

In October, the union notified government of its members’ inability to continue coming to work due to low salaries.

It said a combination of high inflation and ongoing currency reforms had drastically eroded their salaries, when pegged to the greenback, from an average of US$475 in the past to US$40 now for the lowest paid worker.

In a notice addressed to the Minister of Public Service and Social Welfare, the Apex Council said the protest march would be held on November 6.

“The Civil Service Apex Council meeting on this day 30 October 2019 has unanimously resolved to stage a demonstration on 6 November 2019.

“This protest march is instigated by the lack of response by the Government to the workers’ position paper tabled at the last National Joint Negotiating Forum in spite of mutually agreed concurrence to treat the matter as urgent,” said the council.

The Apex Council also voiced concern at the way the employer dismissed their demand for interbank rate benchmarked salaries.

“Recent pronouncements from authoritative Government voices effectively dismissing our substantive and logical demand to have our salaries benchmarked against the interbank rate, effectively pre-empting and nullifying the NJNC,” it said.

The November 6th march seeks to deliver a petition with the workers concerns to both the Labour and Finance Ministers.

Since the beginning of the year, the government has been engaging its workforce in wage negotiations, and has awarded them cushioning allowances while talks for a salary review were going on.

New Ziana