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(TALKZIMBABWE) Zimbabwe civil servants down tools

Zimbabwe civil servants down tools
By: Ralph Mutema
Posted: Sunday, January 23, 2011 9:38 pm

Zimbabwe civil servants down tools | Zimbabwe civil servants, strike action, Eliphas Mukonoweshuro, Morgan Tsvangirai, tendai Biti, Public Service ministry zimbabwe
CIVIL servants in Zimbabwe will on Monday begin an open-ended strike following the collapse of wage negotiations with the Ministry of Finance and the Public Service Ministry.

The government and the federation of public sector workers this week failed to hammer a deal on new pay packages for the 80,000-plus civil servants, two years after Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's promise that he would provide them with "a living wage".

Unions affiliated with the Apex Council, the main public sector union, have been demanding a 150 percent rise while the government said it could only afford increments of up to 24 percent.

Zimbabwe government employees earn an average US$241 a month and want their remuneration reviewed to match or surpass the poverty datum line currently estimated at US$502 per month.

The strike set to begin on Monday could paralyze public services such as hospitals, schools and public services.

The public service ministry led by Mukonoweshuro, the MDC-T secretary for international affairs, says government is broke.

At his inauguration as prime minister, Tsvangirai said he would not repeat the "intransigence of Zanu-PF" and would offer a living wage to civil servants in US dollars.

MDC-T secretary-general Tendai Biti, who is also the Minister of Finance in the inclusive Government at the time said Tsvangirai would get help from his friends internationally to increase the salaries.

That help is still to come.

Zimbabwe is reeling under illegal and runious Western sanctions. President Mugabe and his Zanu-PF party blame the sanctions for the economic problems in Zimbabwe.

Labels: CIVIL SERVANTS, STRIKE

posted by MrK @ 12:32 PM