With the cost of living rising up on a daily basis, civil servants have borne the brunt of it all. Recently the government offered civil servants a $97 hardship allowance which they rejected as too little.
Civil servants have been on record for asking for pay hikes of around $4 000 ZWL.
In an interview with Newsday yesterday, Apex Council secretary David Dzatsunga had this to say:
We totally rejected that offer and indicated to the government that (the offer) was unacceptable. As Apex, we were hoping that the government will come today with an improved package.
As of now, we are still negotiating, but there will come a point where if we realise that we are not getting anywhere, we will declare a deadlock.
We believe that time is lapsing as far as reaching an agreement (is concerned). We are working with the reality that workers are suffering and that their suffering cannot be postponed.
The urgency of dealing with this matter cannot be overemphasised.
In the event that the government fails to come with an acceptable offer, we are going to do whatever is within our labour rights to force the hand of government to give what is due to the workers
