UN staff, boss lock horns over pay
United Nations staff in the country were in a heated meeting last evening with resident coordinator Richard Dictus over salary adjustments in line with the recent devaluation of the Malawi kwacha.
The staff are demanding that their salaries be pegged to the new dollar rate of about K250. UN staff are paid in dollars, but since the 49 percent devaluation, their salaries are still being pegged at the old rate of K167 to the dollar.
During the meeting, which was held at United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) offices in Lilongwe, Dictus urged staff to be patient and wait for a decision from New York on Friday this week.
“This was after he [Dictus] proposed a 21 percent increment… We refused because what we need is to have our salaries pegged at the current rate and not the old rate of K167 to the dollar,” said one of the staffers.
The meeting reportedly ended with no agreement and the staff vowed to stage a sit-in at UN country office today.
