The Sunday News
We honour their work and our nation is far richer because of them. When I say that Zimbabwe is open for business, it is to create more jobs, more opportunity and to provide our people with the greatest possible chance of success . . . We must also protect our workers and ensure that they cannot be taken advantage of. That is why Government is developing a raft of labour law reforms as part of our commitment to creating a safe and enabling environment for workers.
Today, we salute our workers, but every day we must promote, assist and protect them, and continue to create more jobs and more opportunities for all Zimbabweans.”
The above statement was part of the message by President Mnangagwa when the country joined the rest of the world to celebrate Workers’ Day this year. The President has maintained that working conditions of every worker should be improved and all grievances should be addressed and where monetary rewards are not possible, other avenues should be looked at to ensure a win-win situation.
We salute the stance that the Government has taken concerning civil servants, who for long have been looking at their employer with mistrust. After striking agreements with workers in the health sector, Government last week agreed a new deal with the rest of the civil servants, who long have been clamouring for a pay rise.
The Government last week further increased its salary offer to civil servants from 15 to 17,5 percent in a move that saw the employer and workers’ negotiators finally finding common ground and putting pen to paper. Negotiations for a further salary review will however, continue with other non-monetary incentives being considered. This was the second time in as many weeks that Government upped its salary offer to the workers, having last week tabled 15 percent from the initial 10 percent.
The two parties met under the National Joint Negotiating Council and came up with an agreement after more than four hours.
Apex Council chairwoman Mrs Cecelia Alexander confirmed the development.
“The Apex Council had a meeting with the Government at Livingstone House in Harare to iron out outstanding issues. After a protracted meeting which almost took the negotiations to their knees, the two sides later agreed on the Government’s latest offer of 17,5 percent as a special civil service salary that covers basic salary, housing and transport allowances. It will be paid to the members of the civil service with effect from July 2018.”
A memorandum of agreement signed by the two sides states that the concessions were made after taking “cognisant of the state of the economy.” We hope workers will now concentrate on their work and support Government’s initiative to revive the economy and make this country great once more.
