The Apex Council has issued a seven day ultimatum for a job action citing the government’s failure to call for negotiations with civil servants to discuss outstanding issue of cost of living adjustment.
In a letter written to the Ministry of Public Service Labor and Social Welfare, the Apex Council said it had lost patience with government’s disregard of a National Joint Negotiating Council (NJNC) resolution of December 2020 which stated that the NJNC would meet early January 2020 to review salaries.
In the letter, the Apex Council noted the following reasons, “Noticing that we are well into 2021 and the employer is yet to call for the agreed to NJC as is the employer’s mandate; disenchanted that all attempts by ZCPSTU/Apex Council to sensitize the employer to urgently convene the agreed to NJNC have been met with either silence or empty promises; appreciating the employer’s initiative to pay a COLA to some sectors of the service but disgruntled by the discriminatory exclusion of the other sectors,”
“Doubtless that all civil servants are now overdue for a COLA in the light of the steep rise in the cost of living; Responding to the distress call of civil servants for more aggressive action to make the employer hear our pleas; The ZCPSTU/Apex Council will, seven (7) days from the date this letter, notify the employer of an impending civil service wide job action and that such notification will be served to you in accordance with the laws of the land and in fulfillment of the desires of our members,” said the letter.
Efforts to get a comment from the responsible Ministry were fruitless at the time of publishing.
Last month the Apex Council wrote a letter seeking a meeting with the employer over the issue but in a telephone interview, the Minister, Prof. Mavhima, said government was aware of the grievances and was taking steps to solve the impasse.
“It NJNC is the one handling the issue and not us as a Ministry but we are aware of their challenges and a meeting will take place at an appropriate time,” said Prof. Mavhima then.
The impasse, if not resolved is likely to disrupt the smooth opening of schools scheduled for next week.
Already, some teacher representative bodies like the Amalgamated Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (ARTUZ) have warned of the possibility of a job action if the wage question is not answered by the time schools open.
Incomes across the country have been severely eroded by inflationary developments in the country since the introduction of a local currency in 2019.
Teachers want restoration of their salaries to pre- October 2018 level of around US$ 500.
