THE labour movement in Monze district has rejected the 11 per cent salary increment offered to civil servants by government.

The unions in the district also warned of stern action national union leaders who would append their signatures on the aggreement for eleven per cent pay rise.

This came to light during a meeting for all civil servants organized by Zambia National Congress of Trade Unions ZCTU, CSAWUZ, SESTUZ, BETUZ, ZNUT and other unions held at Monze Basic School yesterday.[quote]

Civil servants from various government departments said in their resolutions that government must consider giving them at least a minimum of twenty five per cent increment.

They said eleven per cent wage rise was a mockery as it would not improve their livelihoods in any way in the face of escalating commodity prices.

It was also resolved that the union leaders at national level must ensure that housing allowance is equally revised to k450,000 because the current rate of k200,000 was too little for a civil servant to acquire decent accommodation.

Speaking at the same meeting, CSAWUZ regional secretary for southern province, Gift Hazyondo, said government must realize that civil servants were implementers of its policies and needed to be motivated by offering them better conditions of work.

Mr.Hazyondo said negotiations were supposed to commence, earlier, before the national budget was presented before parliament for the year 2009.

He said this would have been the best time to go into negotiations for next year so that by the time budget presentation is done; all the issues concerning salary increments and other conditions of service would have been concluded.

Mr.Hazyondo was also disappointed with the current crop pf civil servants for being ignorant of their right to better conditions of services.

He said unions must consider providing education to its members in order to enable them fight for their rightful demands.

Meanwhile Southern province chairman for SESTUZ, Collins Malambo, has castigated union leaders at national level for handling negotiations without considering the interest of the workers.

Mr. Malambo said unions were suppose to remind government that negotiations were suppose to be held before the national budget was presented.

He said this was devastating because negotiations carried out after budget has already been presented always resulted into unions signing for the percentage offered by government.

Mr. Malambo said union leaders at national level were not doing their best to serve unionized civil servants.

He said the union in Zambia was becoming weak due to divisions caused by government through establishment of many unions affiliated to the mother body ZCTU.

Mr. Malambo said there was need for union to unite if negotiations for better conditions of services for civil servants were to be achieved.

He also called on all civil servants to become proactive in fighting for their rights of better conditions of services.

[ZANIS]

Teachers in Southern Province have resolved to go on strike when schools re-open for the second term on Monday.

Basic Education Teachers Union of Zambia, BETUZ,Acting Chairperson, Mwangala Dyaunka and Provincial Secretary, Basil Hibajeene, disclosed this to ZANIS in Mazabuka today.

The two union officials said the teachers resolved not to report to work in order to press government to expedite the conclusion of negotiations for increased salaries and improved conditions of service.

They said the current collective agreement expired in March adding that by April, teachers were suppose to have new conditions of service.

The union officials said teachers have become impatient over the delays by both government and union leaders to conclude the negotiations forcing the union to take painful decisions.

The union leaders said the move taken by the teachers will serve as a warning to government not to take teachers for granted.

They said teachers are demanding for among others, payment of outstanding settling, housing, rural, and remote allowances apart from the salary increment.

The officials also complained that the price of essential commodities have continued to rise while government has paid a blind eye to the plight of teachers.

ZANIS

Lands Deputy Minster, Nasim-ul-Gani Hamir, is dead.

Mr. Hamir died this afternoon at University Teaching Hospital, UTH, after a short illness.

Secretary to the Cabinet, Joshua Kanganja, confirmed the death of Mr. Hamir in a statement in Lusaka this evening.

Dr. Kanganja said Mr. Hamir was admitted to the hospital this morning and passed away around 16:00 hours.

Mr. Hamir was until the time of his death MMD Chitambo Member of Parliament.

ZANIS

The Zambian government has spent about K80.4 million (US$14,888) to secure exhibition stands for Zambia’s exhibitors at the just-ended Zimbabwe International Trade Fair.

Commerce, Trade and Industry deputy minister Richard Taima said in Lusaka today that the event was successful but could not disclose how much money was realized from the fair.

Mr. Taima said this today during an evaluation meeting on the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair.

He said about 30 Zambian companies from different sectors of the economy exhibited at the fair, while the total number of participants from Zambia was 60.

He said among the industries that were represented are the textile and clothing, mining, pharmaceuticals, engineering and information communication technology industries.

Others were food production services and the manufacturing industries.

Mr. Taima explained that government was making efforts to enable the country exhibit in other fairs in countries such as Japan and China, including other COMESA and SADC member countries.

He noted that this would help strengthen trade ties between Zambia and other countries because it would accord Zambians an opportunity to market their products.

The postmortem meeting, which included participants in the just ended Zimbabwe Trade Fair, was meant to assess the effectiveness of the event on the Zambian participants and identify areas that needed to be improved.

ZANIS/MP/KSH/ENDS.
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Savenda Management Services has donated K8 million cash and an oil jacked industrial cooking pot worth K45 million to the Red Cross Society towards its relief work in Zambia.

Savenda Group Managing Director for Africa, Carol White, said the pot will help in preparing meals in large quantities for flood victims.

Ms. White said her company made the donation in line with its cooperate responsibility of ploughing back to the community.

Receiving the donation, Red Cross Secretary General Charles Mushitu expressed gratitude at the donation, saying it could not have come at a better time than this.

Mr. Mushitu said he was gratified that Red Cross has new partners who were willing to help alleviate human suffering in the country.

He said SAVENDA’s quick response to the Vice President’s message to help the flood victims was very inspiring.

Red Cross Society is today, celebrating its 150th anniversary.

University of Zambia (UNZA) Vice Chancellor Stephen Simukanga has observed that a good health system in any nation was a major indicator of development.

Professor Simukanga said for Zambia as a country, has been facing a lot of challenges in improving the delivery of health services.

He said this at the 39th graduation ceremony and induction of about 219 students, who graduated in different fields in the UNZA School of Medicine in Lusaka today.

Professor Simukanga said another major contributing factor to the poor health care delivery was inadequate human resource in the health sector.

He said the Zambian health care system has also been characterized by lack of trained health personnel, particularly medical Doctors.

He said the ratio of physicians was currently 0.09 per 1, 000 people, which he said was substantially, lower than other countries such as South Africa and Egypt where the ratio is 0.31 and 0.92 respectively.

The Vice Chancellor also urged the graduates to be prepared to meet challenges and obstacles that they might not have imagined in their careers.

He said reactions to the different challenges and obstacles would determine what sort of medical practitioners they would become.

Professor Simukanga told the graduates that patience, endurance, dedication and a great measure of perseverance was all they needed for them to succeed in their professions.

He said society expected the graduates to take an immense responsibility of being medical practitioners with all the passion and enthusiasm.

Professor Simukanga has however bemoaned the lack of educational infrastructure and poor maintenance of the UNZA Great East Road Campus.

He said the highest learning institution in the country has been affected by inadequate funding, noting that this has posed as a great challenge on the operations of the university.

He was however quick to point out that even with these challenges, UNZA has continued to make progress in a number of areas.

“There has been number of notable progresses in the development of infrastructure at the institution following a long period of virtual stagnation,’’ he said.

He also said UNZA understands that Information and Communication Technology (ICTs) play an important role.

Professor Simukanga said there was need to generate more knowledge that would contribute to the fight against poverty as most people were still wallowing in poverty in the country.

ZANIS/AJN/KSH/ENDS.