Civil servants will begin receiving their annual bonuses later this month following rounds of negotiations between public-sector unions and the Government, a government official has said.
Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Minister Paul Mavima told The Sunday Mail that revealed that the negotiations over how much will be paid out are still ongoing. Said Mavima:
We are definitely going to be paying bonuses this year, but what is left to be decided is the quantum that will be paid out.
As such, civil servants are set to start receiving their bonuses this month on a date to be announced later because as of now we have not yet completed our own discussions within Government.
Zimbabwe Confederation of Public Sector Trade Unions (ZCPSTU) secretary-general David Dzatsunga confirmed the development. He said:
Yes, we have been talking and the employer has made a commitment to pay bonuses.
However, we are not really sure about how much we are talking about here because a decision is yet to be made on figures.
But we have proposed that the bonus should also include allowances because the salary alone is too little and the bonus will not be much either.
Zimbabwe’s largest teachers’ union by membership, the Zimbabwe Teachers’ Association (ZIMTA), on Monday, demanded that the Government pay teachers’ bonuses in United States dollars. ZIMTA said in a statement:
Teachers are demanding that the employer must pay bonuses in united states dollars this month of November 2021.
Because teachers are sinking deeper into incapacitation each and every day, this is the only way to avert crushing them deeper into poverty and dysfunction.