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GOVERNMENT and civil servants’ representatives meet in Harare today amid high hopes that a deal would be struck to end a strike that has crippled public schools countrywide.

Teachers have been on strike over the past month or so, pressing for higher salaries. This has meant that children who are returning to public schools are largely idle.

According to a report by our sister paper, Sunday News yesterday, Government representatives meet today for the continuation of their discussions over salaries. Today’s will be the third and last meeting that must be held in terms of the law before, if a deal is not struck, a deadlock will be declared.

The Government will present a new offer to the Apex Council said Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Minister Professor Paul Mavima.

Speaking to Sunday News, he expressed hope that teachers’ representatives would accept the offer.

“The meeting with civil servants representatives will be held on Monday. Government has a new offer for the civil servants. We will discuss the new offer in the meeting. Unfortunately, I can’t pre-empt the offer before the meeting. While we are meeting civil servants representatives, we are urging teachers to report for duty rather than withholding the service. They should not hold Government to ransom. They can report for work while we finish the negotiations. The Second Republic is a listening Government,” he said.

Apex Council chairperson Mrs Cecilia Alexander said they were hopeful too that the meeting will yield a positive result.

“The meeting with Government has been scheduled for Monday,” she said.

“Legally this will be the last meeting between Government and civil servants regarding this matter. We hope that we will reach an agreement. If we do not, it means we would have reached a deadlock and we can’t negotiate any further. These are the provisions of the law. We are not privy to what Government is bringing to the table on Monday. We will be updating you on the outcome of the meeting. We have been having the negotiations since April and the Monday meeting will be our last.”

As Mrs Alexander said, civil servants and their employer have been negotiating since April. The Government has made a number of offers over the past five months, but the employees have rejected them, pressing for salaries that are not only above the poverty datum line, but also equivalent to US$500 monthly. The Government has awarded them a 40 percent salary increment which the employees have rejected as too little. The 40 percent adjustment was in addition to the US$75 per month that is being paid as a Covid-19 allowance.

We are hopeful that the Government will table a more meaningful package that will guarantee teachers a decent living, thus end the strike that can have long term implications on pupils’ lives.

This is deeply concerning if we consider that schools had been closed for some six months because of the lockdown that the Government instituted as part of a raft of measures to stem the spread of Covid-19. We don’t want pupils to lose more learning time now as the Covid-19 threat is waning, making physical learning possible again.

Having said that, we appeal, in advance, to civil servants to accept the Government offer, which, as already indicated, we hope will be a sensible one. Civil servants need to acknowledge that their employer has been doing all within its means to ensure that they earn decent salaries and their working conditions are improved.

They also need to appreciate that the Government is working to rebuild the economy, which means that it is bound to spend within its means so as to keep the economy on even keel. If the economic initiatives being undertaken are allowed to take root, the Government would in a few months be obviously able to pay more.

Therefore, we look forward to a fruitful meeting today — the Government tabling a meaningful package, which we pray civil servants would accept.