Judiciary gears up to strike again
- Feel short-changed after deal with govt
Barely a month after returning to work following their two months strike that paralysed the country’s justice delivery system, Judiciary support staff have threatened to down their tools again if government does not fulfil its promises.
Judiciary spokesperson Mlenga Mvula said in an interview yesterday that during the last meeting between government and a Special Working Committee on Conditions of Service of Malawi Judiciary, an agreement was reached that they should return to work while negotiations continued.
Said Mvula: “But since then [when they started work earlier in January 2015], government has hibernated, playing hide-and-seek and it seems not to be interested in the talks any more. We are willing to work and serve the country, but if the worse comes to the worst, we will have no choice, but to put down tools again.”
He warned government not to take things for granted because the employees have returned to work.
But Chief Secretary to the Government George Mkondiwa said despite the silence, government is doing everything to make things work.
Said Mkondiwa: “Apart from the silence, we have not been idle because we have finalised some documentation [on their demands] and everything is fine.”
But Mvula wondered what type of documentation government is working on that they cannot communicate to the Judiciary support staff.
Judiciary support staff are demanding three issues from government. These are salary increments, new vehicles for judges and house allowance.
Mvula said government admitted it was unable to deal with house allowances because of the country’s economic situation. But a few weeks ago, Treasury indicated that the issue of house allowances is unreasonable because the clean wage bill government introduced several years ago does not allow for a separate house allowance.
But, according to Mvula, government suggested that only a few Judiciary officers could be receiving allowances which, he said, was inappropriate.
According to the circular dated November 24 2014 signed by secretary for Human Resources Management and Development Sam Madula, government gave an average 18 percent salary increment effective July 1 2014.
Mvula said the circular is the one that provoked the strike as they were not in agreement with the contained proposals.
Meanwhile, it has been established that no salary increment was suggested to government before the Judiciary support staff resumed work. n
FAST FACTS
- Judiciary support staff downed their tools on November 10 2014 demanding a salary increment after their colleagues in the mainstream civil service got a raise.
- The strike lasted two months, paralysing the country’s justice delivery system.
