Finance Minister Goodall Gondwe has told striking staff at the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) to resume work or risk not getting their December salaries.
Goodall Gondwe said he was under the impression the [ACB staff] were ready to go to work. He however warned, those that don’t report for duties will not get their December salary because of his belief the strike is illegal.
But a labour law lecturer at the University of Malawi’s Chancellor College in Zomba has dismissed the threat, saying the law does not favour monetary punishment.
The lecturer, Mauya Msuku, said government’s warning is illegal. He said: Withholding of wages or salaries is monetary punishment, which is illegal. The law only permits to withhold wages when there are damages caused by employees or one has absented himself or herself from work without reasons.
Msuku said employees who are conducting a strike, which has risen from a dispute and that all procedures are followed is not illegal, therefore, their wages cannot be withheld.
ACB staff are on strike demanding 70 percent salary hike after rejecting a 10 percent proposed increase.
This resulted into police sealing their offices on Tuesday, which were opened on Wednesday after President Peter Mutharika’s intervention.
Meanwhile, ACB staff are meeting to discuss the next course of action in light of government’s threats of withholding salaries.
