ZCTU defends K700 public sector salary increment

The Zambia Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) has defended the K700 salary increment agreed between government and public sector unions, describing the outcome of negotiations as a good deal considering the economic challenges faced by the country.

ZCTU Secretary General Joy Beene says the 27 public sector unions commenced negotiations with government last year, ahead of the expiry of their collective agreement in December.

Mr. Beene said the negotiations were difficult and at one point reached a deadlock, prompting government to request a recess to allow it to undertake consultations and seek a further mandate.

He said the recess also gave the unions an opportunity to consult their members and economic advisers before resuming negotiations.

Mr. Beene explained that the unions employ qualified researchers from the University of Zambia to provide economic advice during collective bargaining.

He said union leaders do not simply arrive at salary demands based on figures proposed by members, but subject those demands to analysis by their economic advisers, taking into account the country's economic outlook.

Mr. Beene said members initially proposed varying figures, with some calling for increases of K5,000 and others K3,000 across the board.

He said the initial formal demand from civil servants was a K2,800 salary increment across the board.

However, Mr. Beene noted that negotiating with government is different from negotiating with smaller private-sector employers because government is the country's largest employer, with more than 700,000 employees.

He said the unions therefore understood that achieving their demands would be an uphill task.

Mr. Beene said government presented several reasons why it could not meet the unions' initial demands, including the need to preserve funds allocated for recruitment in the education, health and agriculture sectors.

He said government argued that diverting money earmarked for recruitment towards salary increments could undermine plans to employ teachers, health workers and agricultural extension officers.

Mr. Beene said the unions acknowledged government's position but also reminded authorities that civil servants are responsible for implementing government programmes and policies.

He cited free education and the school feeding programme as examples of policies that have increased pressure on public service workers, particularly teachers who sometimes handle very large numbers of pupils.

Mr. Beene said civil servants play a critical role in translating political parties' manifestos into policies and ultimately implementing those policies.

He said the unions therefore questioned why government could not also extend some of the benefits of its economic and social programmes to public sector workers.

Mr. Beene said that, in the spirit of give-and-take, the unions eventually accepted the K700 increment.

He acknowledged that the unions had hoped to secure K1,000 and said negotiators pushed hard during the final days of negotiations to reach that figure.

However, he said the reasons advanced by government made it difficult to achieve the target.

Mr. Beene described K700 as not the best deal the unions wanted, but said it was a positive outcome compared to previous increments.

He said that since the UPND came into government, public sector workers had received increments of about K500 to K550, making the K700 adjustment an improvement.

Mr. Beene has also criticised opposition political parties for attempting to politicise the outcome of the negotiations and encouraging workers to view the agreement as a poor deal.

He challenged opposition leaders who previously served in government to recall that civil servants were at one point awarded a zero percent salary increment, which he described as effectively amounting to a wage freeze.

Mr. Beene said opposition parties should therefore not ridicule the current agreement, particularly when some of their leaders served in the previous administration.

He warned public sector workers against believing promises from political parties claiming they would provide K2,000 salary increments across the board once elected into government.

Mr. Beene said unions have heard similar promises before and would judge any future government based on its actual performance rather than political promises.

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