Backdated salaries for civil servants

CIVIL servants will definitely get their salary increments this month backdated to January 2014 as promised by the government, Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Minister Nicholas Goche said yesterday.

He dismissed rumours that civil servants would not get their money this month, saying the government was ready to pay its employees.

"There is no doubt that the civil servants will get their money this month. A lot of mobilisation of resources and funds has been done and I can assure you that the government is ready to pay the promised salary increment to its workers backdated to January," said Goche.

"It is not true that the government is not in a position to fulfil its promise. The Minister of Finance, Patrick Chinamasa, has not told us that there is no money for government workers. He promised us that the workers would get their salaries in April."

Goche said negotiations between the government and the civil servants would continue as the former seeks to pay salaries according to grades.

"When we moved to the multi-currency system we realised that there was no difference between workers' salaries. For instance a deputy headmaster would be promoted to headmaster but the salary difference would be $3. There is no meaningful incentive given in line with new responsibilities.

"Discussions between the government and civil servants are therefore ongoing as we try to debunch the salaries and clearly distinguish the different grades," said Goche.

Apex Council president Richard Gundane welcomed Goche's assurance and said they were not expecting any excuses this month.

"The month of April has just started and we are looking forward to the implementation of our agreements as promised. We are not looking forward to any further excuses and delays.

"If the minister has confirmed that civil servants will get their promised salary increments this month, then we are happy. It's a move that we have all been waiting for," said Gundane.

He said a meeting that had been scheduled for yesterday was moved to early next week, with all the minister's confirmations expected to be recorded formally.

Government and civil servants representatives agreed on a salary deal in January that will see the lowest paid employee getting three quarters of the Poverty Datum Line (PDL) which they set at $505.

The new salary structure will result in the lowest paid civil servant in Grade B1 getting $375, up from $297. The adjustments were effected on the basic salary only and transport ($66) and housing allowances ($91) remained unchanged.

Another salary review is expected mid-year and the implementation of non-monetary and indigenisation benefits would take centre stage in between.

Government has also agreed to mobilise an additional $3 million every month for the decompression of salary grades, a move that would see the workers being paid according to seniority, qualification and experience.

In February, Chinamasa and Goche told civil servants that government had not found the money for salaries hence postponing the implementation to this month.

Civil servants unions slammed the pay delay, saying it created serious challenges for their members who had already put the money in their February budgets.