The Sunday News
Gabriel Masvora
PRIVATE companies have this penchant to always check the conditions of service prevailing in the civil service to benchmark what they can also offer to their workers.
Employers have in most cases benchmarked some salaries to what civil servants are earning. Somehow what civil servants are earning has become the standard which employers use to force employees to accept salary offers.
In some cases, employers have not increased their workers’ salaries always hiding behind what has been happening in Government.
The Government, due to reduced revenues have over the past few years failed to effect any meaningful salary reviews, something the private sector has also copied and implemented so gracefully.
Unfortunately even employees in the private sector have been brainwashed to think that the civil service is the barometer of what they must earn. So often you hear some employees boasting that at least they earn more or maybe the same as civil servants.
They have come to accept that the conditions that are prevailing in the civil service are the same as those they must be offered.
Even at negotiating tables, it is common for both sides to refer to the conditions of service in Government depending on whether the argument suits them. However, the truth is that Government and the private sector are different employers.
While they operate in the same economic environment, their targets and mode of operation are worlds apart. Government is mainly concerned with the provision of social services.
In the provision of these services, Government is not motivated by profits but by the need to ensure that the population has access to basic needs such as education and health.
Of course they collect money through taxes but that money is meant to be ploughed back into developmental projects and not necessarily to fatten the treasury purse.
Although the motivation is to develop, Government also tries to ensure that its workforce which is key in delivering these mandates is also remunerated and mostly on time.
Last week, Government announced that it will be paying it workers bonuses starting this month, bringing smiles to thousands of civil servants. This is commendable especially in the prevailing economic conditions where the economy is sluggish.
It shows that Government still considers its workers as a vital catalyst in its quest to execute its duties. No matter the criticism and the so called harsh conditions, Government is showing that it is prepared to go out of its way to say thank you to its workers.
We all know right now that the Government does not have enough in its coffers. A number of projects have stalled due to lack of money. Government companies too, which in a normal situation must be declaring dividends to the Government are performing well below the breaking even line.
Some last declared a dividend many years ago and have also been surviving by waiting for budgetary support from treasury.
Against all these opposing factors, Government still realised that there was a need to try to keep its workers happy by offering them bonuses.
On the other hand, the private sector is motivated by making profits. Almost all what private companies do is meant to improve their balance sheet.
The Government as a non-profit organisation has, however, thrown down the gauntlet to the private sector by announcing that it is going to pay its more than 200 000 workforce bonuses.
The same private sector that has been at the forefront of moaning about the deteriorating economic conditions must see this as a challenge.
They have been using the excuse to offer “civil servants” salaries over the years to their workers by hiding behind what the Government was offering its workers.
What the Government has done must serve as a big challenge to the private sector. The same institution they have abused at the possible opportunity to look down upon their workers has done wonders for its workers. Workers committee leaders must go back to their employers and challenge them to offer bonuses.
They must challenge them and remind them that the same institution (Government) which they have been using as an excuse to offer paltry salaries has announced that it will offer its workers bonuses.
Employers are good at throwing books in the face of employees to try to convince them that they would be no bonuses but the employees must remind these capitalist driven people that even the Government is also struggling.
Maybe the Government balance sheet is way worse than most private companies.
We have been told that Government will even stagger the payments and that is a sign that the money is not readily available to pay everyone at one go.
Workers Unions must be prepared to remind employers that in the same way Government has staggered the payments, even them (employers) can do the same. After all what counts is not the date of payment but the commitment to paying the workers.
It would not be a problem for some of the workers to receive the 13th cheque in January for what is important is the money.
After all, January is known as one of the most challenging months for many people coming after the spending which is normally associated with the December holidays.
Employers too must swallow their pride. They cannot always push the selfish card every time. It is easy to find excuses most of the time but what Government has done is a big challenge. This will test the private sector’s sincerity to the plight of their workers.
We all know that labour organisations are now toothless after being swallowed by politics but the time of fighting is no longer relevant in the country. It is time to consider the welfare of the organisation and that of workers and that is why the
Government took such a bold move even when all pointers were against it.
In the same vein, workers and employers must not really fight. After all the ground is now very uneven as employers now have an upper hand.
However, having an upper hand does not mean being arrogant and the best they can do to their long suffering workers is to say thank you to the workers.
After all, for most companies, bonus cannot be the reason they are not doing well – it’s just a once off payment per year.
