Public servants across
Swaziland are
expected to strike on Tuesday
(24 October 2017) in an ongoing pay dispute.
The Swazi Government has
said it cannot
afford to pay any increase at all,
while public servants want more
than 9 percent as a cost of
living adjustment.
It comes after news that
senior public servants will be given increases that, according to the Times of Swaziland
newspaper, could be as much as 115
percent in some cases.
The Times in an editorial comment lastTuesday (17 October 2017) called
this a ‘reckless
use of taxpayers’ money’. It said
the pay increases for senior officers had been kept ‘secret’ from rank-and-file
workers.
The Swazi Government is broke and earlier this week it was reported it was
living ‘hand to mouth’. It has failed to pay bills to its suppliers and as a
result schoolchildren
have gone without food and
hospitals have run
out of vital medicines.
The Times is the only independent daily newspaper in Swaziland which is
ruled by King Mswati III as an absolute monarch. Political parties are barred
from competing in elections and opposition groups have been banned under the
Suppression of Terrorism Act.
In its editorial the Times said giving the increase to senior
public servants was a ‘heinous act by
government’ and was ‘worse than an insult, not just to the unions but also to
the hundreds of businesses still waiting for their paycheque for services
rendered’.
The main public sector
workers unions involved, the Swaziland National Association of Teachers (SNAT),
Swaziland National Association of Government Accounting Personnel (SNAGAP),
Swaziland Nurses Association (SNA) and the National Public Service and Allied
Workers Union (NAPSAWU) have called members to strike and march to the Ministry
of Public Services.
Unions and the government
have been called to the Industrial Court on 3 November 2017 to try to find a
solution to the dispute.
See also
SWAZI GOVERNMENT ‘IS BROKE’
TV CENSORS PUBLIC SERVANTS’ MARCH
NURSES STRIKE OVER DRUG SHORTAGES
PUBLIC SERVANTS TO MARCH FOR MORE PAY
SCHOOLCHILDREN ‘FACE STARVATION’
https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2017/09/school-children-face-starvation.html
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