Debra Matabvu
Civil servants have hinted that they will go ahead with their intended job action this week despite Finance Minister Mr Tendai Biti’s impending Mid-Term Fiscal Policy review statement.

The Apex Council, which brings together the Public Service Association, Zimbabwe Teachers’ Association, Progressive Teachers’ Union of Zimbabwe and the Teachers’ Union of Zimbabwe, will meet tomorrow to deliberate on the way forward amid a strong feeling within their ranks that their employer is ignoring a salary increment ultimatum they issued early this month.

Mr Biti is expected to tackle the issue of civil service salaries when he presents his Mid-Term Fiscal Policy statement this week.
However, Apex Council president Ms Tendai Chikowore yesterday told The Sunday Mail that the civil servants are ready to press on with a nationwide job action despite there being a chance that Mr Biti will address their concerns in his presentation.

“We are not waiting for the Mid-Term Policy to be announced,” she said.
“We will be meeting as the Apex Council on Monday (tomorrow) to chart the way forward since we have previously hinted that we will go on strike if our salaries are not reviewed this month.

“We have given the Government enough time and we do not expect them to run around at the last minute, so the decision that will be made at the meeting will take immediate effect despite the fact that the Finance Minister will be making his presentation later in the week.”

In their demands submitted to Government earlier this month, civil servants are demanding an all-inclusive salary of US$564 for the least paid worker and 15 percent of the basic salary as rural allowance.
The least paid Government worker presently gets US$296.