Civil servants want a minimum of US$200

Takudzwa Chihambakwe

Civil servants have said while they appreciate the salary adjustments made by the Government on Tuesday, they are not entirely pleased with the package. They also wanted the offer to be negotiated.

Under the new measures all civil servants received a 20 percent salary hike backdated to the first of January 2022 and will also see them access $100 US dollars at the prevailing official rate.

Secretary general of the Zimbabwe Confederation of Public Sector Trade Unions, David Dzatsunga spoke to ZTN.

“In our last National Joint Negotiating Council meeting we had proposed that workers should take home at least US$200 if the government was to use a hybrid system.

“However, we want to acknowledge the principle that the Government has now accepted that workers should also get US dollars,” said Dzatsunga.

“This hybrid offer does make a lot of difference in terms of going forward and we are hoping that this is a start and not a destination.

“We are not necessarily over the moon to say that we are entirely happy but we should appreciate that going forward we can keep pushing towards our benchmark which is the October 2018 salaries.

Dzatsunga added that an urgent meeting will be held soon to map the way forward.

“The NJNC meeting should be held quite soon. We would have wanted to have it this week but we are not yet sure if that can happen. But early next week we should be meeting,” he said.