Public workers' strike begins

Zambia's public sector workers on Monday launched a three-day nationwide strike to force the government to honour a wage increase agreement. The unions ignored an appeal by President Levy Mwanawasa on Sunday, who feared strike action would damage the economy and cripple the government. "I am making a passionate appeal for you not to strike so that we can find other ways of resolving this matter," Mwanawasa said. Secretary-General of the Civil Servants Union of Zambia, Darrison Chaala, told IRIN that the unions were prepared for a series of strikes until the government bowed to their demands. "The nationwide strike by government workers starts today and ends on Wednesday, when we hope the government would have agreed to pay better wages and give workers their housing allowance. If they don't act on our demands, we shall go on strike again for a week and if, after a week, the government of President Mwanawasa does not react positively, the strike will be indefinite and operations of the government are bound to suffer greatly," Chaala said. Martha Banda, 25, has one child and works for a government department that pays her 200,000 kwacha (about US $40) a month, making her one of the lowest paid workers in the country. She fully supports the industrial action. "Surviving on such little money is tough ... especially if you have a child to look after, like I do, it is extremely difficult," Banda told IRIN at the Pamodzi Hotel in the capital, Lusaka, where almost 1,000 public workers gathered to kick off the strike. The Jesuit Centre for Theological Reflection, which collects monthly cost of living statistics, estimates that a household of six needs to spend up to $160 on basics alone. After protracted negotiations with union leaders in April, the government agreed to salary increases and housing allowances for the 120,000 public workers to help cushion the impact of the cost of living. The lowest paid workers would earn $123 and the most senior $220. However, the administration was forced to renege on the pay agreement when the International Monetary Fund demanded that the government tackle a projected budget overrun of about 600 billion kwacha ($124 million) and withheld $100 million in aid. The IMF, World Bank and bilateral Western donors fund almost half of Zambia's national budget. In order to access aid and debt relief, the government is expected to cut spending and fight corruption. Union leaders, however, argue that the sacrifices should not come from their members, but from within Mwanawasa's bloated 66-member cabinet, with an end to expensive trips abroad and ministerial perks like expensive vehicles. At the Pamodzi Hotel the workers sang: "When we are hungry and say we want money or better conditions, we are told there's no money, but ministers simply dream up better perks or trips and the next day they are turned into reality ... this cannot go on."