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Govt won`t budge on wages - Ghasia
2007-08-11 10:51:06
By Jane Mkonya
The Minister of State in the President`s Office (Public Service Management), Hawa Ghasia, has said today`s planned workers demonstration will not change the government`s stance on wage levels.
Speaking to The Guardian yesterday, Ghasia called upon the Trade Union Congress of Tanzania to demand the raise `from whoever advised them to demonstrate but not the government.`
Ghasia said: `The government has a lot of pending development issues to deal with.
We can`t always deal with workers. We have done our level best to adjust salaries in tune with the prevailing economic conditions.`
She added that the latest salary increment tallied with the country`s situation. `The 315,000/- TUCTA is demanding as minimum salary is simply too much. The government has a lot of pressing issues to deal with,` she said.
`Public servants are a very small part of the society in comparison with other public demands such as hospitals, roads, schools, water and electricity,` said Ghasia.
Ghasia said: `We have been surprised by their decision. We once held talks with the workers when they brought their complaints to us. We told them of the changes that we were planning and reached consensus that they should just accept the adjustments.`
She disputed allegations that the government had for years ignored workers’ demands.
`The government increased salaries of civil servants by 50 per cent in the last financial year. TUCTA should understand the formula that we applied to adjust their salaries,` said Ghasia.
TUCTA has confirmed that a workers` demo to press the government to increase salaries for public servants is on and the police have already given the green light for the march.
TUCTA is not satisfied by the 84, 000/- minimum wage set by the government. It has instead proposed the minimum salary to stand at 315,000/-.
Last week the government challenged the private sector to pay its workers a living wage.
The Minister for Labour, Employment and Youth Development, John Chiligati, said wages paid by private sector were not only disturbingly low but also a disincentive to workers, as they made it impossible to promote harmonious labour relations and business competitiveness.
`The challenge for employers in private sector is to pay a living wage. Workers should be paid handsomely where productivity is high,` Chiligati told participants of a Top Executive Policy Workshop on Harmonious Labour Relations for Productivity and Business Competitiveness.
The minister challenged the private sector to collaborate with the newly formed Sectoral Wage Boards to recommend a meaningful minimum wage above that paid to public sector employees.
He urged both employers and workers to engage in continuous consultations as a way of ensuring that harmony prevailed at working places.
Chiligati said: `The government would like to see employers and workers relations are under the umbrella of the Employment and Labour Relation Act which became operational on January 05, 2007.`
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