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Civil servants reject 'peanuts' pay offer
Caiphas Chimete,The Standard (Zimbabwe)
May 20, 2007

http://www.thestandard.co.zw/viewinfo.cfm?linkid=11&id=6565&siteID=1

HARD-UP civil servants last week spurned a government salary hike offer of 200%, describing it as peanuts.

They threatened to stage another crippling strike, The Standard was told last week.

The teachers, who form a large segment of the civil service, said if government failed to review their salaries to their satisfaction, they would from next month teach for 10 days in a month.

Sources said government representatives and Civil Service Staff Association Apex Council - which represents the 180 000 civil servants - met last week but reached a deadlock, with the council demanding $2,6 million a month for the lowest paid civil servant.

The government had proposed a $200 000 housing allowance. They said the transport allowance would not be reviewed, as civil servants could use Central Mechanical Equipment Department (CMED) buses to and from work.

"We categorically rejected that (offer) and told them (government) civil servants were prepared to go on strike again because they have been reduced to paupers," said a source who attended the meeting. "The government said it would come back to us within a week or so, with refined proposals."

Had the Apex council agreed to the 200% increment, the lowest paid civil servant would have ended up earning $241 000 a month.

The Consumer Council of Zimbabwe has estimated that an average family of five now needs about Z$1.7 million to survive in just one month.

Most workers now earn about $350 000 on average.

Chairperson of the Apex Council, Tendai Chikowore, yesterday confirmed meeting government representatives but denied a deadlock.

"We are still negotiating," she said. "It would not be honest on my part to say that we reached a deadlock because we are still talking."

Chikowore, the president of the Zimbabwe Teachers' Association (Zimta), declined to say how much the civil servants were asking for, saying it was "strictly confidential".

But Progressive Teachers' Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) secretary general, Raymond Majongwe, said his members would not accept anything below $4.2 million a month. Teachers are also demanding monthly transport and housing allowances of $420 000 and $540 000 respectively.

"Teachers are not going to subsidize the government any more. If our demands are not met, teachers will come to work for only ten days a month," Majongwe said.

He said their salaries had been eroded by inflation, which currently stands at 3 713.9%, the highest in the world.

Over 4 500 teachers have left the profession since the beginning of this year due to poor pay and working conditions. Some are now employed as housemaids, gardeners and herdsmen in Botswana and South Africa.

Majongwe dismissed the government's failure to review transport allowances, saying most teachers do not use CMED buses since they only ferry workers from government departments to their homes. But most teachers commuting between suburbs would not benefit.

Moreover, they said, the majority are in rural areas. The CMED buses cost $1 500 a trip but are not always on the road due to mechanical faults.

The chairman of the Public Service Commission (PSC) Mariyawanda Nzuwah could not be reached for comment.

In February, civil servants were granted a 300% salary increment after they went on a "go-slow", for better pay. Three months down the line, the workers say hyperinflation, has wiped out their pay rise.

If the demands by teachers and civil servants are not met, they will join doctors and nurses, who are already on strike over better pay and working conditions.

A junior doctor earns about $600 000 a month but takes home about $1.1 million with allowances. Senior nurses, like schoolteachers, earn $500 000 a month.

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