Source: Zimbabwe public workers reject government offer to double pay – Reuters
HARARE (Reuters) – Zimbabwe’s public sector workers on Friday rejected a government offer to nearly double salaries for the lowest-paid employees because it was not enough to cushion them against soaring prices, their union said.
The southern African nation’s economy is experiencing its worst crisis in a decade while poor rains are seen worsening the food security situation at a time some 8 million people face hunger after a drought last year.
The top public workers’ union Apex Council said the government had offered to increase the salary for the lowest paid employee to 2,033 Zimbabwe dollars ($123.68) from 1,033 Zimbabwe dollars a month. There would also be a one-off allowance of 750 Zimbabwe dollars.
“As workers, we totally rejected the offer,” Apex Council deputy chairman Thomas Muzondo told Reuters, adding that the union would meet on Monday to decide on its next action.
Vincent Hungwe, head of the Civil Service Commission, which employs government workers could not be reached for comment.
Muzondo said public sector workers still insisted that the government should revert to the October 2018 salaries when the country was still under dollarisation. Then, the least paid worker received $475 a month.
Zimbabwe re-introduced a local currency last year in June, which sparked increases in prices of basic goods and services and inflation, which economists say reached 400% in November.
Salaries have lagged, angering workers, including most junior doctors at state hospitals, who have remained on strike since September.
Hopes that the economy would quickly recover under President Emmerson Mnangagwa have faded as the economy grapples with 18-hour daily power cuts, shortages of fuel, foreign currency and medicines in government hospitals.
COMMENTS
This is major problem of not getting the countries finances straight. The Money is all wrong and not ‘valued’ by the population or have meaningful value to the population. So you increase these salaries by 100%, this would get you off the hook for today. But another group will ask for at least parity and a bit more. In the meantime every time you pump more money into the public domain the inflation goes up. Therefore come 3 months the original demand is back again for another hike. The graph is not linear however because the next demand of 100% includes the 100% on the already increased salaries. The greatest problem remains how to stablise the fact people will ask for more money because they cannot live of what they are paid ‘now’? This never ending spiral is already in action, look at the graph on the Internet, it’s exact duplicity that ended in the trillions situation. Things would have been better left with the US$, That is to some extent stable, prices in the international store are pegged to that so the population would or could feel adequately remunerated, at least the daily price increases would not be there. The then problem is you do have enough of these Greenbacks because you have other loop created whereby the electricity, Water,Transport, elimination of corporate thieving and waste etc are all not performing, so you you do not earn anything. You are running on the batteries as it where, without any prospect of using the charger as there are no better periods. Poor management, by the bewildered. It’s the belief in the free lunch by the themes who should know better.