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Mass strikes loom in Zimbabwe wage talks
April 10, 2006
By Godfrey Marawanyika
Harare - The possibility of mass strikes looms for Zimbabwe's embattled economy as workers demand higher wages to cushion them against soaring living costs because of hyperinflation and shortages of foreign currencies.
Wage talks opened two weeks ago and are expected to continue until the end of the month. Large-scale labour action could become a reality, according to unionists.
Collin Gwiyo, the acting general secretary of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions, said last week: "Although there have not been many strikes for some time now, industrial actions are most likely to happen this year. The salaries … are an embarrassment."
Independent economic analyst Best Doroh added: "It's obvious that the potential for deadlock between employers and employees is quite high."
But economist Erich Block said that although wage talks would encounter a number of deadlocks, strikes were unlikely. "Both employers and employees are facing the same difficulty but I doubt that we will have widespread strikes. Everyone wants to protect the little that they have."
Zimbabwe's inflation reached an all-time high of 913.6 percent in February from 613.2 percent in January. Speaking on Friday, central bank governor Gideon Gono blamed the rise partly on the printing of money to service debt to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Gono revealed in February that the central bank resorted to printing Z$21 trillion (about R1.3 billion) to buy foreign currency to clear the country's arrears with the IMF. Zimbabwe last month paid US$9 million (R55 million) to the IMF to avert expulsion over the long-overdue arrears.
But analysts said Zimbabwe's galloping inflation was the sign of a failed economy, with economist David Mupamhadzi saying "we are now feeling those effects of printing the money".
The National Employment Councils Union said in its latest figures that farm workers earned a meagre Z$1.3 million a month, mine workers got Z$6.5 million and school teachers got Z$8.5 million.
The average room rental in the high-density areas of Harare is between Z$1.5 million and Z$2 million, while Zimbabwe's highest currency denomination, a Z$50 000 bearer cheque, is not enough to buy a loaf of bread.
Gwiyo said the average worker needed between Z$25 million and Z$30 million a month to make ends meet. He said the nation's workforce had for years refrained from taking to the streets, fearing reprisals under Harare's security laws. - Sapa-AFP
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