News / National
Lucia Matibenga snubs meeting with Civil servants
18 Jan 2012 at 05:58hrs | Views
Lucia Matibenga (photo Sandra Nyaira)
Public Service Minister, Lucia Matibenga, failed to turn up for a scheduled meeting with civil service unions to discuss a possible salary increase and improvement of working conditions.
Last week, the public sector workers gave the government a five-day ultimatum to address their grievances, failing which they would embark on a one-day strike.
The civil servants had demanded that negotiations be concluded before the end of last year to avoid anxiety in the New Year. However, the two parties went for the Christmas holiday without meeting as the government side was still consulting.
After the Christmas holiday the two sides failed again to meet as they had to break for the New Year holiday.
Unions APEX council chairperson Tendai Chikowore expressed disappointment at the attitude the government was showing towards the plight of its employees.
"It is a betrayal of our trust. We were looking forward to meeting her and we were prepared to listen to whatever she was going to propose," she said here Tuesday. "Now that she has snubbed us it has proved that they are not sincere and they were just buying time."
Chikowore said the unions would start mobilizing their members for a one-day strike on Thursday.
"We are now urging all civil servants to show solidarity and embark on this strike because we need to send a message to government that we are serious," she said.
Public Service Association (PSA) president Cecilia Alexander said the minister had reneged on an agreement made at their last meeting. "This is very disappointing. We did not expect this from her. We waited for hours and she did not even bother to tell us herself that she would not be coming," said Alexander.
"We were told that she was attending an inter-ministerial meeting somewhere and repeated efforts to contact her were fruitless."
Alexander added that the only option left was the one day strike on Thursday.
Civil servants are demanding a minimum salary in line with the Poverty Datum Line, which is pegged at 540 USD per month. The lowest paid civil servant currently takes home around 250 USD per month following increments effected in July last year after protracted negotiations.
Finance Minister Tendai Biti did not make provisions for increasing salaries for civil servants in the 2012 Budget.
Civil servants are bitter with the government for claiming that its coffers are empty when it recently paid MPs 15,000 USD each in sitting allowance arrears.
Last week, the public sector workers gave the government a five-day ultimatum to address their grievances, failing which they would embark on a one-day strike.
The civil servants had demanded that negotiations be concluded before the end of last year to avoid anxiety in the New Year. However, the two parties went for the Christmas holiday without meeting as the government side was still consulting.
After the Christmas holiday the two sides failed again to meet as they had to break for the New Year holiday.
Unions APEX council chairperson Tendai Chikowore expressed disappointment at the attitude the government was showing towards the plight of its employees.
"It is a betrayal of our trust. We were looking forward to meeting her and we were prepared to listen to whatever she was going to propose," she said here Tuesday. "Now that she has snubbed us it has proved that they are not sincere and they were just buying time."
Chikowore said the unions would start mobilizing their members for a one-day strike on Thursday.
Public Service Association (PSA) president Cecilia Alexander said the minister had reneged on an agreement made at their last meeting. "This is very disappointing. We did not expect this from her. We waited for hours and she did not even bother to tell us herself that she would not be coming," said Alexander.
"We were told that she was attending an inter-ministerial meeting somewhere and repeated efforts to contact her were fruitless."
Alexander added that the only option left was the one day strike on Thursday.
Civil servants are demanding a minimum salary in line with the Poverty Datum Line, which is pegged at 540 USD per month. The lowest paid civil servant currently takes home around 250 USD per month following increments effected in July last year after protracted negotiations.
Finance Minister Tendai Biti did not make provisions for increasing salaries for civil servants in the 2012 Budget.
Civil servants are bitter with the government for claiming that its coffers are empty when it recently paid MPs 15,000 USD each in sitting allowance arrears.
Source - New Ziana
