The Zambia Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) has threatened to paralyse the government if it cuts or freezes wages for public service workers and civil servants, state media reported on Wednesday.
The powerful ZCTU was responding to acting Finance Minister George Kunda’s announcement on Tuesday that the government will reduce salaries and freeze wage negotiations with civil servants in
an effort to close a $124-million budget deficit.
Leonard Hikaumba of the ZCTU said if the government goes ahead with the plan, it would face nationwide industrial unrest on a scale never seen before.
Hikaumba said workers had already sacrificed enough and government should look elsewhere to finance the deficit.
The Zambian government is under pressure from the International
Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank and other western donors to balance the budget deficit caused in part by a large government payroll.
The donors have threatened to suspend aid to the country unless the government explains how it will finance the deficit without shifting funds from priority poverty reduction programmes. The IMF has already refused to release $100-million in aid.
Recently, the government awarded both civil servants and public service workers wage increases and housing allowances after a prolonged countrywide work stoppage that nearly crippled all essential government operations.
Civil society and opposition political parties have urged President Levy Mwanawasa to reduce his 69-member cabinet instead of cutting wages for civil servants and public service workers. – Sapa-DPA