By A Correspondent| Members of the Defence Forces yesterday started receiving a cushioning allowance, while the National Joint Negotiating Council (NJNC) convened a meeting to discuss an increment and other conditions of service for Government workers.

Soldiers received salaries adjusted with the cushion allowance, while other members of the civil service are expected to get theirs on their scheduled pay dates.

Those who spoke to the state media said they received an adjustment which ranged from around 40 percent of their usual salaries.

This dovetails with an assurance by Finance and Economic Development Minister Professosor Mthuli Ncube that civil servants will have an increment with effect from this month.

The NJNC, which brings together representatives of Government workers under the Apex Council and those representing the Government, held a marathon meeting yesterday to discuss conditions of service.

Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare Minister Dr Sekai Nzenza said an agreement on the real salary increment should be reached by Wednesday.

“The NJNC will continue negotiations tomorrow (today). There should be an outcome by tomorrow or Wednesday,” she said.

In an interview, Apex Council president Mrs Cecilia Alexander said the meeting was aimed at affording them feedback following the proposal they submitted on conditions of service for civil servants could be improved.

“The meeting had only one item, to get a feedback on the proposal that we had presented. No agreement was settled in the meeting but we agreed that each party should go back to its constituency for a way forward.

It was equally agreed that we should reconvene before the end of this week because the issues that we are dealing with are very urgent,” said Mrs Alexander.

She said they were not happy with the offer that was presented to them by representatives of their employer.-StateMedia