Govt, Civil Servants To Meet, Teachers Not Optimistic
The Apex Council, the association representing the majority of civil servants, will on Monday next week meet ahead of the National Joint Negotiating Council meeting the following day.
Government workers have for some time been, agitating for an upward review of their salaries as the cost of living has continued to escalate while their earnings have remained stagnant.
Apex Council spokesperson David Dzatsunga on Thursday told NewsDay that their demands will be guided by cost of the living basket for a family of six. Said Dzatsunga:
We will meet as Apex to come up with some figures especially in light of the pricing shifts that are happening.
We are meeting, likely on Monday since the NJNC will be held on Tuesday. At the last meeting, we had demanded US dollar salaries, but that has been overtaken by events.
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That is why we need to come up with a new position that takes into account the changes and realities in the economy.
We will basically be guided by the cost of the food basket for a family of six.
However, the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe president Takavafira Zhou does not expect anything positive to come out of next week’s meetings. He said:
As usual, the government is preparing for another romance with the Apex Council next week. The NJNC has always failed to address even some non-monetary issues like land and tuition fees for teachers’ children. No wonder, we feel they are masquerading as leaders.
This is a difficult time that needs extraordinary measures and extraordinary unity of civil servants in order to get some semblance of cushion from a rogue regime.
The cost of living for a family of six was said to be at about ZWL$800 in April.
However, prices have risen multiple times since then with, for example, a 2-litre bottle of Mazoe priced below $8 in April but now being priced at over double that figure.
