HARARE – Public workers have accepted a 29 percent salary hike for the lowest paid employees, which the government says will cushion them against double-digit inflation, unions said on Thursday, and likely averting a strike in the interim.
The government wage bill is rising by an extra $400 million starting in April. Finance Minister Mthuli Ncube has said any salary increases would be within his $8 billion budget for 2019, rejecting predictions by analysts that they could drive up inflation.
Under the review agreed between the government and unions, the lowest paid civil servant will now be paid RTGS$570 up from RTGS$441.
The salary adjustment is a far-cry from the $1,733 for the lowest paid worker demanded by unions.
The government has also announced a duty waiver scheme on vehicle imports for its more than 305,000 workers on a sliding scale.
In a statement, Vincent Hungwe, the chairman of the Civil Service Commission, said the government and its employees also agreed to establish a Public Service Collective Bargaining Council by June this year and that the government would capacitate Premier Service Medical Aid Society (PSMAS) so that it can provide services to members.
“The parties will continue to engage in order to bring finality to other outstanding issues in respect of sector specific allowances and other non-monetary incentives for civil servants,” Hungwe said.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government has faced wage strikes from nurses, doctors and teachers inside the last year. Government workers said the cost of living has gone up markedly but their salaries remained unchanged.
Ncube has vowed to tackle the massive wage bill consuming almost 90 percent of the national budget, but a poorly performing economy and rising unrest in the government workforce has left him with little room to implement any reforms.
Ncube said this week he expected the annual inflation rate to fall to below 10 percent by the end of the year from 59.39 percent in February because the government would cut its budget deficit by half.
