Civil servants push for USD75 monthly COLA

CIVIL servants have renewed pressure on Government to cushion them against rising living costs, calling for the continued payment of the US$75 Presidential bonus granted in November last year to be maintained as a monthly Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) while wage negotiations stretch into the first quarter of the year.

In a letter to the Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare, Mr Edgar Moyo, the Zimbabwe Confederation of Public Sector Trade Unions (ZCPSU) urged authorities to sustain the allowance across all sectors, warning that the prevailing economic environment has left workers increasingly vulnerable.

The appeal follows a ZCPSU meeting held on Monday last week, at which labour representatives resolved that the US$75 COLA should remain in place while first-quarter negotiations under the National Joint Negotiating Council (NJNC) are ongoing.

According to the ZCPSU, the allowance is crucial in bridging the widening gap between stagnant wages and escalating household expenses.

In its submission, the confederation noted that public sector employees traditionally receive a cost-of-living adjustment at the beginning of each year. However, no such adjustment was effected at the start of last year, a situation the union said significantly eroded workers' purchasing power.

The US$75 allowance, the ZCPSU argued, has therefore become a vital stopgap measure to offset income losses sustained over the past year.

The union further highlighted that workers are struggling to meet the cost of basic necessities such as school fees, transport, food and other essentials, particularly as current wage levels predate recent price increases.

Without interim relief, the ZCPSU warned that many civil servants may find it increasingly difficult to meet their day-to-day needs.

The confederation also stressed that its immediate priority is securing cost-of-living relief rather than engaging in longer-term structural processes such as job evaluation.

While acknowledging the importance of such reforms, the ZCPSU said job evaluation processes are often lengthy and complex, making them unsuitable as a short-term response to the economic pressures currently facing workers.

"In the meantime, we believe discussions should be centred on COLA rather than anchoring them on job evaluation," the union said, adding that workers view the job evaluation process as flawed and insufficient to address urgent livelihood concerns.

The ZCPSU proposed that the US$75 allowance remain in place until the conclusion of first-quarter NJNC negotiations, when broader wage issues can then be comprehensively addressed.

Copies of the submission were also sent to the Minister of Finance and the chairperson of the Public Service Commission.

The appeal has once again placed public sector remuneration in the spotlight, as cost-of-living pressures continue to dominate labour discourse ahead of what are expected to be crucial negotiations between Government and workers' representatives in the coming weeks.