Joint team proposes 100,000/- minimum wage

The Public Service Joint Council yesterday recommended to the government to raise civil servants minimum wage to 100, 000/-, up from the current 84,000/-.

The recommendations, according to council chairperson Anastasia Mmuni, result from the fact that the government's financial position does not allow paying more money.

The council is composed of trade union representatives and government officials.
She said some of the items in the salary package would not be taxed so as to allow low income workers attend to their basic needs.

For his part, Permanent Secretary Mathias Kabunduguru of the Ministry of Public Service Management said the ministry would digest the proposals, and any decision would be arrived at on the basis of the government�s financial capacity.

"This is just a proposal. The ministry cannot make a final decision. It is upon the government to consider whether it has the resources to pay the proposed wages," said the PS.

The minimum wage debate had previously locked trade unions leaders and the government into a prolonged tug of war.

The announcement of raising the minimum wage to 84,000/- was faulted by the trade unions, which regarded the new scale as peanuts and wanted it increased to at least 300,000/-.

Recently, trade unions had organized demonstrations to pressure the government into increasing wages of civil servants, as the government played down their demands.