Malawi Anti-Corruption Bureau staff to stage strike

Employees of the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) have called for a strike action starting on Tuesday as part of an ongoing dispute over pay and conditions.

The ACB workers are renewing their demands that the government should raise their salaries  to an average of 70 percent in line with their conditions of service .strike

The workers said the government had left them with “no alternative”. But to strike, arguing government has breached contract by failing to enforce what is stipulated in the ACB Staff Terms and Conditions of Service.

Article 01.09.2 of ACB’s Staff Terms and Conditions of Service provides that their salaries shall be revised by the bureau any time there is (a) a raise in the civil service salaries and (b) an increase in the cost of living, according to the employees.

Further to that, Article 01.09.3 provides that in the case of devaluation, the salaries will be adjusted to maintain their current value and in the case of a raise of salaries in the civil service, the bureau’s salaries will be adjusted to a percentage more than the civil service rate to keep them competitive.

Minister of Finance, Economic Planning and Development Goodall Gondwe has appealed to the ACB workers to exhaust the “existing mechanisms for dialogue”.

He said the government “remains committed” to improving the working conditions of all its workers within the provisions of the available fiscal space.