Mother of all strikes!

CIVIL servants have resolved to go on strike with effect from next Monday after the Government failed to increase their salaries further, insisting it is broke.

Unions met Public Service and Social Welfare Minister Eliphas Mukonoweshuro and Finance Minister Tendai Biti in Harare yesterday, but the meeting failed to bring relief to the restive workers.

Civil servants told reporters after the meeting that Minister Biti told them point blank that Government was broke and not in a position to pay them competitively.

They said Minister Biti asked them to show them where the money was so he could "simply take it and pay" them handsomely.

Ministers Mukonoweshuro and Biti could not be reached for comment last night.

Teachers Union of Zimbabwe president and Apex Council member, Mr Manuel Nyawo, said the meeting failed to address the concerns of the workers.

He said the only option left was to down tools.

"We are in agreement as Apex Council that as long as Government remained adamant not to accede to our demands, there is no reason for our members to continue going to work.

"Government should just expect anything starting from Monday because we have discovered that there is some kind of preferential treatment when it comes to the treatment of Government workers.

"There is no joy to talk about. As civil servants, we are frustrated and devastated by the outcome of this meeting.

"What Minister Biti did was just to walk us through his 2011 National Budget so that by the end of the day he will come out as a smart man," he said.

Mr Nyawo said Minister Biti's assertion that Government was broke was not convincing be-cause he never mentioned the issue of diamonds and other minerals in the country.

He said Minister Mukonoweshuro did not say anything about the plight of workers, but appeared content that his counterpart, Minister Biti, had shielded him.

Progressive Teachers' Union of Zimbabwe secretary-general, Mr Raymond Majongwe, said: "Minister Biti only came to justify that Government was broke adding that anyone who knows where to get the money should show him so that he can pay the civil servants.

"We now want to regroup as civil servants and find a common ground to manoeuvre our way forward.

"We now want to meet President Mugabe because last year we met Prime Minister Tsvangirai but failed to get any joy.

"The two ministers said the meeting was confidential but I find nothing confidential because as workers' representatives we have an obligation to report back to our members."

He said their membership had been expecting much from the meeting and it was disappointing that nothing had materialised.

Zimbabwe Teachers' Association chief executive, Mr Sifiso Ndlovu, said yesterday's meeting brought nothing except a sermon from Minister Biti explaining his 2011 budget.

"The meeting did not deliberate on the position we have taken as workers and it was more of an appraisal meeting.

"Minister Biti told us that the economy was in shambles and that there was no space to manoeuvre," he said.

Last week, civil servants rejected the Government's US$6 increment for the least-paid worker.

They gave the Government seven days to review the offer or face an indefinite strike. The seven days lapse on Monday