CIVIL servants yesterday rejected Government’s offer to increase their cost of living adjustment by 97 percent, maintaining their position of having their salaries indexed to the interbank rate beginning from the time the rate between the local unit and the US dollar was 1:1.

In an interview, Apex Council president Mrs Cecilia Alexander said in their meeting with Government representatives in Harare yesterday, they failed to agree on the 97 percent hike offered by their employer.

“Government said the cushioning allowance that we were supposed to receive in December will be paid out on January 15 across the board.

However, we could not reach consensus on the issue of cost of living adjustment because the offer they brought did not in any way address the concerns we raised in our position paper,” she said.

“Our position was to say Government should apply interbank rates salaries basing on the October 2018 salary of US$425.

In other words, we are not asking for salary increase, but we just want the restoration of value, but Government offered 97 percent on a sliding scale from 80 percent to 97 percent, which the negotiating team rejected.”

The Apex Council, a representative body of civil servants’ unions met on Tuesday and resolved to push Government to index their salaries to the interbank rate beginning from October 2018 when the rate between the local unit and the US dollar was 1:1.-State media