WORKERS under the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) banner have declared that a crippling general strike was the only way out of the current salary crisis as government was not keen on addressing their plight.
ZCTU president Peter Mutasa said a crucial meeting
involving doctors, teachers, the Zimbabwe Federation of Trade Unions and other
stakeholders was held recently to find a lasting solution to the disputes.
He said the general feeling was that a general strike that
stops all workers from going to work was the only way out.
Mutasa said workers should unite to force the private and
public sector employers into action, adding that President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s
administration did not have any appetite to resolve workers’ problems.
“We know that we will not get anything if we do not unite
and fight back together,” Mutasa said.
“The only way is a national strike that makes sure the
whole country’s workforce stops working. That is the only way in the public and
private sectors and if we don’t do that, the employer will always find ways of
victimising workers at the workstation and we need a general strike and we need
all workers to unite.”
Mutasa added: “Recently, we had the salaries and wages
summit that was convened by the ZCTU and attended by the Zimbabwe Federation of
Trade Unions, other teachers unions, and the Zimbabwe Hospital Doctors
Association.
“We are continuing to urge all workers to unite and to
fight back. For as long as we are united, we are very optimistic that we will
get what we are demanding.”
Civil servants have been engaged in talks with the
government but the dialogue is on the verge of collapse after the parties
failed to agree on two occasions.
Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe president Takavafira
Zhou also confirmed that union leaders were consulting their members on the
issue of a general strike. He said indications were that people were speaking
with one voice.
Zhou said teachers were already implementing their two-day
working week programme, adding that threats by the government would not stop
them.
“It is a minimum of one day and a maximum of two days. We
have received threats from some government officials who said teachers are
sabotaging the government and must resign. They are the ones to resign because
they are not paying their workers,” he said.
“We were trying to find common ground to say the government
must not deal with us in private pockets and as workers we must lobby employers
to pay us well and that consultation is going on and we are moving towards
consolidation of worker positions for a national lobby by workers and there was
general consensus on that.”
Labour minister Paul Mavima said there was one more meeting
to go before a deadlock could be declared, but threatened a “no work, no salary
principle” to stop workers from engaging in job action.
Civil servants have declared incapacitation and are demanding the pre-October 2018 salaries of between US$520 and US$550 a month.
Opposition MDC Alliance leader Nelson Chamisa waded into
the salary war, saying: “No to slave wages. When the economy has dollarised
with fuel, tollgates, passports being charged in US dollars, it is not only
illogical, but outrightly cruel to pay civil service salaries in worthless
RTGS. Pay decent wages. Maintain people’s right to dignity.
“You can’t leave in a distorted market, a distorted stock
market, a distorted foreign currency market and a distorted commodity market.
It is so because of a distorted (2018) election.
“You cannot have the most expensive fuel in the region with
salaries not meeting the high cost of living. That is fiction and why do we
believe in fiction like that? No country develops on the basis of fiction.
People cannot plan their lives properly because of this kind of economy.”
He said the way out was to address the “distorted” politics
of the day that has led to the crisis.
“Zimbabweans have not known normal lives for long. They
cannot breathe, doctors cannot breathe, nurses cannot breathe, teachers cannot
breathe, and civil servants cannot breathe,” Chamisa said. “The solution is to
address the distorted politics first and the economy will fall into place.”
Newsday
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