Malawi court clerks strike over housing benefits
It never rains but pours for the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration. Over the past few months, the regime has been rocked with a number of strikes and threats of more industrial actions.Workers from both public and private sector have been demanding salary hikes, some unrealistic, all attributed to how cruel life has become with the ailing economy and now a strike by junior judicial workers has paralysed the court system .
The junior judicial workers are now demanding payment of their housing allowance which Parliament approved in July last year.
Judiciary union president Charles Lisigeni said they are on strike to press authorities to start paying them house allowances.
“We have vowed to keep striking until judiciary staff demands are met,” Lisingeni said.
Lisigeni said previously they were receiving the house allowance but it was removed sometime in early 2000 after government introduced a clean wage.
In February this year, judges and magistrates staged a similar sit-in to press government to pay them housing allowances as approved by Parliament in 2012, other benefits and arrears dating back to July 2016.
Their grievances date back to 2014 when they started pushing for a 45 percent salary increment but when government approved a 46 percent increment to all mainstream civil servants, they only got 18 percent and now they want the difference.
Malawi is one of the world’s poorest countries, with an estimated 75% of people living on less than $1 a day.
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what is so special with these judiciary workers? We keep hearing Judiciary this, Judiciary that. Government should harmonise all salaries of all employees working in Government institutions. There should be no salary discrepancies of people holding same grades but getting different pay checks depending on department or institution. This nonsense must stop, otherwise this charade will keep on happening.
Gule uyo¡!!!!!