Business came to standstill in Malawi after Civil Servants in all the regions of the country downed their tools and staged public demonstrations in the city of Mzuzu and Lilongwe while in Blantyre the march was put off to Friday and presented petition to Office of President and Cabinet.
Today, most of government offices were locked up after workers from departments which had not been observing the industrial action joined following last week breakdown of negotiations between Government Negotiating Team (GNT) and Civil Service Trade Union (CSTU).
The strike has led to the shutdown of Kamuzu International Airport in Lilongwe where aviation workers have joined the industrial action disrupting air transport.
Heavily armed Police were deployed in numbers to keep watch on the civil servants who chanted songs about the current harsh economic woes which they say have eaten up their current monthly earnings by 30 percent following 49 percent devaluation and floatation of the Kwacha.
In the Northern city of Mzuzu, the public workers marched peacefully and successfully presented their petition without any incident. While in capital city Lilongwe demonstrators faced a little resistant from the security forces, they only allowed union leaders and denied the rest entry into the premises of the Office of President and Cabinet (OPC).
In Blantyre, the march was put off to Friday due to what organizers said logistical hiccups.
Meanwhile, government has said that it is ready to offer the public workers a pay hike but failed short of disclosing the exact figure saying it will be made known to public tomorrow after the meeting with trade union leaders tomorrow.
“Government is urging all striking civil servant to return to work as government has already made a decision on a remuneration package,”read the government statement aired on the state run radio Malawi Broadcasting Corporation (MBC).
The statement further added that the new package has taken into account current economic realities the country is going through.
Yesterday, Finance Minister Dr Ken Lipenga claimed that the government would not afford to go by demands of the public servants saying hiking salaries by 67 percent as demanded would disrupt Economic Recovery Plan (EPR) which President Joyce Banda administration has adopted to resuscitate the country economy.
Apart from salary adjustment demand of 67 percent, the public workers are also demanding the restructuring and harmonization of wages in public sector saying there are a lot of inconsistencies.
“We also want salary restructuring and harmonization of wages in entire public service. For example, workers in statutory corporation get higher pay than their colleagues in civil service,” said Edwin Theu CSTU Vice President and a member of union negotiating team.
Theu further disclosed, that they in their petition they have presented to the Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC) they have also demanded the amendment of Public Service Act which observers say is a root cause of salary discrepancies in public sector.
Ends
