Civil servants petition Biti, Moyo

The government workers, who marched through Harare on their way to Finance Minister Tendai Biti and Speaker of Parliament Lovemore Moyos offices, downed tools two weeks but the industrial action has not shutdown all public departments with many workers continuing to report for duty.

But union leaders vowed to step up the strike unless the government acts urgently to address their salary grievances.

Addressing the civil servants at Harare Gardens last week Public Service Association president Cecilia Alexander said: It is naive for anybody to believe that intensive criticism, threats and intimidation tools will eliminate industrial actions by workers.

“Threats to punitively crash workers’ dissent can only fuel industrial disharmony which ultimately will affect productivity and service delivery. We want to make it clear to the employer that we are not going to be intimidated.

The comment by PSA president follows last week’s statement by the Public Service Commission that employs all government workers that the strike was illegal.

Civil servants have asked government to pay $630 a month for the lowest paid worker from the current $120. But the cash-strapped government has offered $122 in February which would be raised to $134 in April.

The government, which is already using 60 percent of total collected revenues on salaries, insists it does not have money to fund any significant wage hikes.

Since the formation of the unity government, teachers had returned to work while state hospitals were admitting patients again as nurses and junior doctors resumed their duties.

But failure by the unity government to convince major Western nations to provide direct financial support could see basic services such as health and education collapse again as civil servants strike or, as before, resume the exodus to foreign countries where wages and livings conditions are better.