Escom workers reject 10% offer

Employees of the Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (Escom) yesterday took to the streets in Blantyre, Lilongwe and Mzuzu cities to express their displeasure with a 10 percent salary increment offer.

The staff, who boarded the State power utility’s open trucks and chanted “44 percent yawawa” translated to mean the impact of the 44 percent kwacha devaluation has hit them hard, said they want their salaries increased by 44 percent to cushion them from the devaluation.

They have since given Escom management 14 days to implement the increment or risk unspecified action.

In Blantyre, the irate staff took a fleet of more than 10 Escom vehicles to ferry union members from Escom Power House in Ginnery Corner to their head office in Umoyo House in the Blantyre central business district to deliver a petition.

For a couple of minutes, the convoy blocked traffic on Victoria Avenue as the employees, who chanted songs and hoisted placards as well as tree branches, made their way to the head office.

As this unfolded, similar protests were staged by union members in Lilongwe and Mzuzu.

In Lilongwe, the employees drove around in Escom vehicles from Area 3 offices to City Centre before proceeding in a convoy via Bingu National Stadium to Game Complex where Escom call centre is located. Along the way, they danced and chanted protest song against the 10 percent pay hike.

In Mzuzu, Escom employees closed their offices and sat outside the premises in protest of the 10 percent salary hike.

Speaking to The Nation in Blantyre, Escom Staff Union president Charity Harawa said they declared a dispute with Escom after talks between the union and management for a pay increase failed and the latter referred the matter to the government.

She said: “We are told that the government has capped salary increments to 10 percent. But people are angry because that is too little to suffice for the 44 percent devaluation.

“The kwacha has depreciated more than once. We want a 44 percent pay rise to cover tuition fees for our children and other basic necessities.”

In his response after receiving the petition, Escom director of human resources and administration Chrispin Banda said management will revert to the staff once discussions with government are finalised.

He said: “We want to assure the union that the letter has been received and all procedures enshrined in the Industrial Relations Act on these matters will be followed.

“We’ll sit down to look at the request and if it calls for a meeting, we will inform the union.”

The Escom staff reaction comes days after a circular from Secretary to the Treasury McDonald Mafuta-Mwale to chief executive officers of commercial State-owned Enterprises (SOEs) advised them to limit their salary increment to 10 percent.

Reads part of the circular: “Furthermore, to cushion against the impact of the recent devaluation, government wishes to advise that a maximum of 10 percent salary increment be considered in the revised budgets for all commercial SOEs effective December 2023.”

Representatives of the Malawi Congress of Trade Unions (MCTU, who were present to support Escom staff, commended the employees for following all the procedures stipulated in the Industrial Relations Act before staging yesterday’s protests.

MCTU vice-president Kelvin Chifunda said: “The law says when there is a dispute you present it to the Ministry of Labour and copy your employer. We will ensure that the law is followed in the discussions henceforth.”

However, he warned government that what Escom staff has done has “opened a Pandora’s box as other unions would follow suit with protests”.

Said Chifunda: “As it is now, a lot of unions will be declaring disputes with their employers because things are hard on the ground. Last year, there was 25 percent kwacha devaluation and nothing happened.

“This year there was 44 percent and other smaller percentages. So, we should be talking of over 80 percent and yet salaries have n’t gone up.”

On Tuesday, MCTU also gave government a 14-day ultimatum to raise wages and salaries to cushion public workers against the impact of the devalauation.

The union, which is demanding a 144 increase in the minimum wage, has threatened to take unspecified action if government does not comply to their demands after the expiry of 14 days.

Early last month, Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs Simplex Chithyola Banda promised that the government would “immediately” engage all civil service trade unions to review salaries in the public sector and determine how civil servants can be properly cushioned against the kwacha alignment.

During delivery of the 2023/24 Mid-Year Budget Review Statement in Parliament on November 20, he said government has increased its allocations to wages and salaries by 9.1 percent from K900.44 billion to K980.49 billion.