Apex council gives govt deadline on cushion allowance payment

The government has reneged on its promise to pay civil servants a 50 % cushion allowance forcing the Apex council to  make consultations Tuesday morning., Zim Morning Post has learnt.

The government was supposed to make the deposits last week but to date no money has reflected in the civil servants accounts.

Our sources revealed that Apex council president Cecilia Alexander made consultations with their employer on why the Treasury has not released funds and government has assured that the payments will be done by Friday this week.

The Apex Council has threatened to protest if government fails to fulfill its promise on Friday.

“We would like to assure you that from the consultations we have made this morning ,the Apex president Cecilia Alexander has been up and about on finding out why the treasury is dragging its feet in paying what is due to us.

“She has been assured that by Friday this week the cushion will have reflected on our accounts without fail,” revealed our source.

“Failure of which the Apex will issue a statement on the degree of insensitivity  and insincerity on the part of the employer. Hold your breath, cows will definitely come home,” added the source.

The government last week offered civil servants a 50% cushioning allowance for the month of July and salary increments of ZW$116 from August to December, but representatives of the workers rejected the proposal and immediately declared incapacitation.

The offer was made during a meeting of the National Joint Negotiating Council attended by representatives of government and the Apex Council.

“The government offered 50% of our total earnings as a cushion allowance for July only. From August to December civil servants will then get ZW$180 million translating to ZW$116 per individual. Through the mandate given by the membership, Apex Council rejected the offer as it could not even attempt to address the basic needs of the civil servants to necessitate duty execution,” Apex organising secretary Charles Chinosengwa said.

Chinosengwa said civil servants were now incapacitated as the transport costs keeps spiralling.