MCTU wants 30% pay hike
The Malawi Congress of Trade Unions (MCTU) has proposed a 30 percent salary increment for junior civil servants and a 20 percent increment for senior civil servants.
This is against government’s proposed 20 percent salary increment for junior officers and 10 percent for senior officers in the proposed 2018/19 National Budget that Minister of Finance, Economic Planning and Development Goodall Gondwe presented in Parliament last month.
In an interview yesterday, MCTU secretary general Dennis Kalekeni said while Capital Hill is facing financial hardships, with political will the economy can sail smoothly and salary increments would not be an issue.
He said: “We want to believe as MCTU that if government fights corruption, it should be able to meet the salary increments we want.”
Kalekeni added that if some budgetary allocations such as the Farm Input Subsidy Programme (Fisp) are trimmed or scrapped, government can manage to increase public servants’ salaries.
The MCTU has since issued a statement in reaction to the proposed 2018/19 National Budget urging government through the Department of Human Resource Management and Development (DHRMD) to address salary disparities in the civil servicedue to the high cost of living. The statement has been signed by Kalekeni.
But reacting to the development in an interview yesterday, Economics Association of Malawi (Ecama) president Chiku Kalilombe said a 30 percent increment would not be practical considering the country’s macroeconomic stability.
Said Kalilombe: “With the estimated budget deficit which is expected to be financed by borrowing, increasing salaries and wages by that magnitude would not be ideal at this point in time.
“Our fear is wages and salary increases beyond a certain threshold would be inflationary and disturb the current macroeconomic stability.”
MCTU is a legally recognised body which represents the welfare of all workers in the country. n
