Mzuzu City Council staff threaten strike
Mzuzu City Council (MCC) employees have threatened to down tools on Monday should the council’s management fail to pay their salaries dating back to March 2019.
The employees took to the streets yesterday in a peaceful demonstration and presented their grievances to management at the Mzuzu Civic Offices.
Presenting the petition, MCC Workers Union member Dave Chikanda said management has neglected the issue of salary delays for four years and “the situation seems to worsen each passing month” to the extent of affecting service delivery.
“It is shameful to learn that the December 2018 salaries came from the money realised after selling a plot and yet the council has been collecting revenue from various business premises.
“As if that was not enough, the council had to sell another plot to process the January and February 2019 salaries and yet revenue has been collected in the said period,” he said.
Chikanda said the workers have given management May 10 as the deadline for paying them.
Speaking after receiving the petition, MCC director of administration Christopher Phiri said management will discuss how to address the stand-off.
“We are aware of the issues and all of us have been affected. However, the deadline given is not realistic because the wage bill cannot be sourced in a day,” he said, adding that the delay to pay the workers was caused by low revenue collection in the first half of the year.
