CSTU keen on DPP’s improved welfare pledge
Civil Service Trade Union (CSTU) says it is waiting with curiosity on how quickly the governing Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) will start implementing its pledge to improve the well-being and perks of civil servants.
CSTU president Service Sakala, in an interview this week, said the civil servants are looking forward to the Peter Mutharika administration for motivation as it can only deliver efficiently if enthused.
In its May 20 Tripartite Elections manifesto, DPP pledged to ensure that all civil servants receive a wage that compares favourably with those in the private sector and that they shall no longer be condemned to a life of penury as salaries will be adjusted periodically to ensure they keep pace with prevailing economic trends.
Said Sakala: “Civil servants are waiting eagerly when this new government will start implementing its manifesto promises of providing good package to civil servants. But we are hopeful that it will live up to its promise and as for us we will keep on reminding the authorities.”
The CSTU president said DPP needed a vibrant civil service to deliver, but that can only be possible if civil servants get attractive incentives once promises made during the May 20 Tripartite Elections’ campaign period are fulfilled.
“With a public service that is demoralised because of lack of incentives, I don’t think government can achieve its planned development agenda,” observed Sakala.
The DPP manifesto further pledged to establish a Public Service Remuneration Board, which will be responsible for the harmonisation of public service pay.
The board will also be mandated to remove the inequities, and iron out the incongruities that exist in the system where employees doing similar work at similar grades are remunerated differently because they work in different government departments.
In March this year, the CSTU petitioned government demanding a speedy review of the disparities of salaries in the civil service which it said are oppressive and promote a culture of elitism.
But government only revised leave grants, which will come into effect on 1st July 2014, while the issue of salaries, according to Sakala, is yet to be concluded.
