Financial Gazette (Harare)
22 July 2011
UNIONS representing public workers have dismissed the minor adjustments to civil service salaries saying the increase was too little to sustain their members.
The Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) and Zimbabwe Nurses Association (ZINA) said this week the increases were still below the poverty datum line estimated at US$502 per month.
After the latest adjustment, the least paid government worker is now taking home about US$250.
Raymond Majongwe, the secretary general of PTUZ, said government was playing games with the civil servants.
“We are not happy at all. No sober person and no genuine worker will say they are happy with this increment. The money is just too little,” said Majongwe.
ZINA chairperson for Harare province, Mugove Chipfurutse, said he was disappointed with government for giving civil servants a low wage increase.
“Things are not good for us. The money we got is way below our expectations.
“A senior nurse getting an average of US$384 and a junior nurse getting an average of US$350 is just not enough. It is not what we were expecting,” said Chipfurutse.
It was not clear how government had financed the latest pay increase for civil servants after Finance Minister, Tendai Biti, last week told Parliament that there would be no supplementary budget to cater for civil servants salary increments.
Reports last night suggested that the ministry of mines had released an undislosed sum of money from the Marange diamond sale proceeds to Biti’s ministry, which would almost certainly have supported the pay increase.
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Continued here:
Zimbabwe: Disgruntlement Over Civil Servants Salaries