Public Service, Labour, and Social Welfare Minister July Moyo said that civil servants’ conditions of service now align with those of their private sector counterparts.
This comes after the government recently increased public sector workers’ US dollar salaries and linked the Zimbabwe dollar component to the prevailing interbank rate.
Minister Moyo said this in the National Assembly on Wednesday while responding to questions from backbenchers during the Question and Answer session. He said (via The Herald):
This is a new agreement to ensure that the Zimbabwe dollar component is paid using the interbank rate. This is a new social protection measure that has been agreed and it is a reasonable way of protecting workers.
I can assure you that I approve all the 48 National Employment Councils’ collective bargaining agreements, (and) when I look at what is happening in the private sector, and what they are paying compared with the public sector, it is almost equal.
Civil servants’ representatives and Government officials held a National Joint Negotiating Council (NJNC) meeting on Thursday last week.
During the negotiations, the Government offered to raise civil servants’ salaries to US$320, up from US$300, and index the Zimbabwe dollar component to the prevailing official exchange rate.
Zimbabwe Confederation of Public Sector Trade Unions president Cecilia Alexander expressed satisfaction with the new salary offer.
However, teacher unions lambasted civil servants’ negotiators for accepting what they deem a “paltry offer” which they said falls short of addressing their financial hardships.
Amalgamated Rural Teachers of Zimbabwe president Obert Masaraure singled out Alexander (pictured) for criticism. He said:
What is more surprising is that those people who call themselves negotiators as led by one Cecilia Alexander will try to play Public Relations for the employer, but we know that she is an imposter; she does not have a mandate from anyone to be a negotiator at the table…
Alexander is now a lifetime negotiator for civil servants and always brings back rotten deals and has taken into her armpits a bunch of greedy individuals who want to benefit from lying that they represent us.
Masaraure said that the Federation of Zimbabwe Educators Unions had resolved to reject the paltry increment and was demanding US$1 260 as the minimum salary for a teacher.
Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) secretary-general Raymond Majongwe concurred with Masaraure, adding that cases of suicides, drug abuse, sudden deaths, stress and divorces have tremendously increased among teachers as a result.
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