Industrial unrest continues

Some Zambian public workers have accused their trade union leaders of betraying them in wage negotiations with the government. The umbrella Zambia Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) last month threatened a nationwide strike if the government did not meet its demand for a 1.5 million kwacha (about US $300) across the board raise for public workers. But after talks with the government last week, labour leaders settled for a far smaller hike. "The government has agreed to do two things - pay 615,000 kwacha [$123] for the lowest paid public worker and 1.1 million [$220] to the highest paid worker. I must stress that this is a start and it was the best we could do at this stage ... next year, we will get better I think," ZCTU president Leonard Hikaumba told IRIN. Some Zambian teachers, who are already on strike, have said they would not accept the government's offer and would move for a vote of no confidence in the ZCTU leaders. "We are collecting a number of signatures from the members so that the vote of no confidence for the union leaders can be official," Eric Mwale, a teachers' representative, told journalists. "We are not satisfied with the agreement the union leaders have come up with and therefore we refuse to go back to work until our demands are met." Hikaumba said the teachers' position was unjustified and unhelpful. Other labour unions were examining the government's salary proposal. "I think the problem is that when the government is negotiating certain agreements with organisations like the IMF [International Monetary Fund], we are not privy to the talks. So when we make demands, they say the IMF will not allow them to do so, and it makes us look bad in the eyes of our members," Hikaumba noted. IMF Resident Representative Mark Ellyne said his organisation was aware of the hardships workers were facing, but the government had other obligations such as managing expenditure and sticking to its budget. "If the government can pull some resources from within the budget and meet the workers' demands, that is alright with us because we believe good work should be well paid for," Ellyne told IRIN. "But if meeting the demands will mean going beyond what was budgeted for, our concern is that government expenditure may increase and therefore lead to heavy government borrowing and a huge deficit." But President Levy Mwanawasa had angered public service workers by recently increasing the salaries of parliamentarians and politically appointed district administrators (DA), as part of his campaign to stem corruption. He also hiked the perks of judges. "The government of Zambia needs to explain who is more important in their hierarchy. Is it the teachers, or politicians such as DAs? This is a cardinal issue," said Mbinji Tanje-Mufalo, a University of Zambia lecturer. The basic take home salary of Zambia's teachers, nurses and policemen is around 300,000 kwacha (US $60). According to the Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflections, which carries out monthly cost of living surveys, in January an average family of six needed more than 1 million kwacha (US $208) for "basic needs". Protest over standards of living are increasingly being expressed through industrial action. This week, the country's magistrates went on strike. Last month the the government shut the University of Zambia when they failed to reach an agreement with lecturers demanding better perks. "My appeal would be for the workers not to go on strike, and for those already on strike to resume work, because their continued strike just makes negotiating a harder job. This must be seen as [a] give and take kind of situation," Hikaumba said.