Zimbabwe’s Public Servants launched a two-day national strike demanding that their salaries be paid in United States dollars.
It followed a 14-day deadline from the Zimbabwe Confederation of Public Sector Trade Unions for the Government to respond, which had expired.
Unions have rejected payment in the local currency, saying it is almost worthless and is eroded by inflation within days.
In a statement, the Confederation said workers had abandoned the negotiating processes “which do not uphold constitutional rights of collective bargaining as enshrined in the National Constitution”.
“The team of negotiators from the Government side do not have the mandate to make binding decisions on behalf of the Government and their consultations take too long at the expense of the workers’ welfare,” the Confederation said.
Government efforts to appease workers by offering a 100 per cent wage increase failed as it was in the local Zimbabwean currency.
Workers are now demanding monthly earnings of $US840 ($A1,206).
Healthcare workers halted a five-day-old pay strike last month and suspended it to allow negotiations, but union leaders warned industrial action would resume if the Government failed to make an improved wage offer.
The Government has blamed the global effects of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine for the crisis.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who took over from long-time leader Robert Mugabe in a 2017 coup, has struggled to end an economic crisis that began under his predecessor.
Harare, 23 July 2022
