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Workers give govt 30-day ultimatum
2007-08-12 10:40:53
By Staff Reporters
Public workers have given the government a 30-day ultimatum for addressing their grievances, particularly in regard to low wages that cannot facilitate a decent livelihood.
The ultimatum was one of the highlights of a demonstration held in Dar es Salaam yesterday, which culminated in a rally at the Jangwani grounds.
Some of the demonstrators, amongst whom were placard-waving colleagues, wept openly to demonstrate their anguish, while others voiced their anger hysterically, over alleged government insensitivity to their welfare.
`The glaring disparity in income between those we have put in position decision making positions in the country raises many questions.
They are behind a curtain so that they cannot see where they came from as they are filled with shame,`Evarist Mwalongo remarked at the Jangwani grounds in the city.
Mwalongo is the Committee Secretary of Dar es Salaam regional office of the Trade Union Confederation of Tanzania (TUCTA).
He was reading the workers’ message to the national TUCTA Secretary General Nestory Ngulla, who promised to take it to President Jakaya Kikwete.
The message did not mince words in its criticism of the government.
It queried the rationale of a monthly salary of 84,000/- for a worker in public service, representing about half the daily allowance of a parliamentarian, whose salary was 1,500,000/-.
In the Kiswahili Service of the British Broadcasting Corporation yesterday, two legislators lamented that their salaries and allowances were too little to meet their needs, although they refused to reveal their monetary packages on grounds that the only spokesman was the Speaker of the Union Parliament.
`We wish to inform the Government that it has no mercy and completely ignores workers of this country who fought for independence in collaboration with peasants.
The government has turned its values to businessmen as its pillar in overseeing Policy, Economy and National Politics,`the message pointed out.
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