LUSAKA, March 5 (Xinhuanet) -- The Coalition of Public Unions in Zambia has given the government negotiating team two weeks to increase personal emolument allocations in this year's budget, theofficial Zambia News Agency reported Saturday.

    Sylvester Tembo, president of the coalition, was quoted as saying at a press briefing in Lusaka Saturday that the 343 billionkwacha (about 714 million US dollars) allocated for public serviceworkers' salaries is insufficient .

    He urged the government to lift the wage freeze slapped on public service workers last year, saying that the workers have sacrificed for too long.

    The wage freeze was imposed as the southern African country strives to meet conditions set by creditors for it to reach the completion point of the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative.

    As the completion point is now sight, public service workers in Zambia are becoming more adamant in their demands for better conditions of service.

    Negotiations between the government and unions was started in September 2004, but Tembo said the coalition feels that negotiations are going nowhere and that the unions are not gettinganything out the discussions.

    He urged the government to be serious in addressing the matterin order to avoid unnecessary differences and conflicts.

    "If the government decides to be adamant about the matter we will have no option but to consult members on the way forward," hesaid.

    The coalition is a group of five Public Unions that includes the Zambia National Union of Teachers (ZNUT), Secondary School Teachers Union of Zambia (SESTUZ), Civil Servants and Allied Workers Union of Zambia (CSAWUZ), the National Union of Public Service Workers and the Primary Education Teachers Union of Zambia(PETUZ). Enditem