Raise salaries to 70% or we strike from Dec 8 – ACB staff

Employees of the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) have given government a seven-day ultimatum to raise their salaries  to an average of 70 percent in line with their conditions of service or they will  commence strike action on December 8.

ACB director Lucas Kondowe has confirmed that he has received an ultimatum titled ‘Notice of intention to strike’ dated December 1 2014 action and  he forwarded it to the Chief Secretary to Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC) George Mkondiwa.

However, Minister of Finance, Economic Planning and Development Goodall Gondwe categorically said that Treasury would not implement the salary increment requests because that would defeat the purpose of harmonisation of salaries in the civil service, which government is working on.

The workers claim their employers—ACB and government—have breached contract by failing to enforce what is stipulated in the ACB Staff Terms and Conditions of Service.

They have given government up to December 7 to implement what is in their conditions of service or they will go on strike come December 8.

“Take notice that we, the employees of the Anti-Corruption Bureau being dissatisfied with the breach of contract by the director general of the Anti-Corruption Bureau vis-à-vis enforcement of terms and conditions of service, are intending to go on strike.

“As a dispute of right, our preference was to go to court for litigation, but since the courts are almost non functional we have no choice, but to commence a strike as a way of enforcing our right under the contract,” reads the notice.

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.