via Government stalling salary negotiations | SW Radio Africa by Tichaona Sibanda on Wednesday, January 8, 2014
The government has been accused of negotiating in bad faith and not showing interest in resolving a wage dispute with civil servants, a union leader said on Wednesday.
Takavafira Zhou, the President of the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) said they feel betrayed as government was showing no interest to honour its pledge to increase salaries for civil servants by the start of 2014.
“Teachers are going back to work next week Tuesday and the issue of their salaries has not even been resolved a pledge it promised during electioneering,” he said.
“It’s unfortunate that at this eleventh hour, the government is trying to be evasive and elusive and without concrete agreement, we might be forced to take other measures,” warned Zhou.
He said that all they were asking for was a remuneration package that values the job teachers do.
In the run up to and after the July 31st polls President Robert Mugabe promised to improve the welfare of government employees, a pledge that has not been fulfilled.
Last month, civil servants’ representatives met in Harare with government officials in their first joint negotiating meeting in two and a half years.
The union representatives said that meeting was “very inconclusive” and there was hope government would reconvene a meeting in January to start the salary negotiations.
Teachers in Zimbabwe earn a basic salary of between $300 and $480 per month, but the Consumer Council of Zimbabwe says a food basket for an average family of five now costs $540 a month.
COMMENTS
NI ZANU ZIMENEZI!
NI ZANU ZIMENEZI!WHAT YOU SEE IS WHAT YOU GET!
Mamama same style for past 33years tichaku dzokororai come 2018
nhai zhou why do u need to negotiate when there is no need.it has been the same story over the years.u are also the problem u leaders.u are not coming down to us for ideas ,we the membership.we are not worried even if they bunch all of us pa$540-00 if its there at all.i would urge all contributing members to withdraw membership to any of these so called unions and associations because its money being wasted feeding other people without results to talk about.there is no need at all for this animal called Apex. Govt just give us what you have, even if its nothing.we are now used and we are surviving thru other means even if some of the ways are unscrupulous and detrimental o the development of the nation.
They will pay themselves long before they pay you!
muboy muboy chete don’t ever think they will change, we were born evil we will die evil, just imagine what is happening now in terms of wages/salaries if it was from whites what was rudhara rwekwazvimba going to say especialy during ellection time. don’t get me wrong i’m not saying whites r better than we blacks in everything, but in this area i think they r. just imagine if a teacher is earning us300 what about general hand? my adivice to all civil servants is just quit the job unless if u r doing shade deals at your work place then u need to keep it. zvinhu izvi zvakabvira kare kubva ichiringuva yemangezi vasikana vaitishandira mudzimba vaita mwedzi nemwedzi vasingabharwe kana vakomana vemombe, vaizoti vafa vozodzoka yava ngozi, ndakakushandirai musingandibhadhare. ndidzo ngozi dzirikudai kunetsa nanhasi mumhuri dzakawanda.