BULAWAYO City Council (BCC) workers are threatening to down tools citing incapacitation and delays in salary payments, a development that is likely to affect the city’s service delivery system.
On Monday, workers under the banner Zimbabwe Urban Councils
Workers Union (ZUCWU) convened outside the Bulawayo City Hall to express their
concerns over failure by BCC management to address their grievances over poor
salaries among other demands.
The least paid BCC worker earns a basic salary of $1 900.
According to the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (Zimstat), the latest
Poverty Datum Line (PDL) for an average family of five stands at $17 244,07.
In July, the Town Clerk Mr Christopher Dube admitted that
council was struggling to pay its workers and delivering effective service to
its residents. Council’s revenue declined by 80 percent in the past four
months.
According to a council report, in March, the local
authority managed to collect $15 million but after the declaration of the
lockdown, revenue inflows tumbled to $3 million in April.
The chairperson of ZUCWU Bulawayo branch, Mr Ambrose
Sibindi said they gave council management a petition expressing their
grievances around poor salaries and non-payment of Covid-19 allowances.
He said workers were now incapacitated due to poor
salaries. “As workers we are saying we are now incapacitated because the money
that we are getting as workers is now peanuts with the lowest getting $1 900
basic salary. What can you do with $1 900? We wrote our position paper to
council on the 28th of August 2020 so that we negotiate and that process is
still outstanding,” said Mr Sibindi.
“Council is taking too long because in that position paper
we were clear that we were supposed to have salaries reviewed effective
September and now we are in mid-November we haven’t agreed on anything and as
workers we are fed up and enough is enough.”
Mr Sibindi said workers were also demanding clarity on the
issue of their annual bonuses.
“Our employer is not clear on when we are getting our
bonuses because naturally, we get bonuses in November and we are just three or
four days away from bonus payment date and council hasn’t communicated and we
are worried because there is no response,” he said.
Mr Sibindi said council is also failing to honour pay dates
with some workers yet to receive their October salaries.
“We demand that council must pay us on the stipulated pay
dates which is the 23rd of each month. There is also an issue of staggering and
we are saying all workers must be paid on the same day because this is dividing
workers, and council is talking advantage of that because there won’t be a
collective decision,” he said.
Mr Sibindi said they wrote to council in March demanding
Covid-190 allowances and up to now the issue hasn’t been resolved.
“We are aware that the world over and even here in Zimbabwe
some organisations are paying their workers Covid-19 allowances. As council
workers we are very much exposed to Covid-19. Our argument is that most of our
services we deal with the community,” he said.
“We gave the management our petition on Monday and they
haven’t responded. We are saying the least paid workers should get at least $18
000. Most of the people in that category are due for retirement and that basic
salary will be considered in terms of pension, which means those people will be
affected even after work.”
Mr Sibindi said top management enjoys huge perks while the
majority of workers were struggling. He said if council delays in addressing
their issues, they will be forced to declare incapacitation, affecting service
delivery.
Mr Dube, the town clerk, yesterday confirmed having
received the petition. He said low revenue inflows made it difficult for
council to meet some of the workers’ demands.
“We received the workers’ petition and we are going to act
on those demands that are within our reach, but most of them are beyond
capacity of council. We are however, going to have negotiations with all
stakeholders until a solution is found,” he said.
“Year 2020 was a very difficult year for council for both
employees and residents who are struggling to pay their council dues. We will
have no option but to opt for vigorous and tougher ways to force residents to
honour their obligations otherwise we sink.”
Revenue inflows into council coffers have been erratic
since the country went into lockdown on 30 March.
In a recent report, BCC indicated that it was considering
billing residents in foreign currency and has re-adopted selling of residential
stands in US dollars. The council said it was no longer sustainable to use
local currency as it was losing value and affecting service delivery.
Last month BCC proposed a supplementary budget of $550 792
328 and a 2021 annual budget of $16 billion.
Residents are however, accusing BCC of directing a huge
chunk of its resources towards salaries and administration costs at the expense
of service delivery. Chronicle
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