HARARE - The countrys biggest labour movement the, Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), says it has agreed to establish a National Income Policy early this year, which will stipulate wages and salaries for the countrys workforce.In an interview in Harare on Tuesday, ZCTU President, Lovemore Matombo, said the government, through the labour ministry, assured his organisation that the National Income Policy was going to be set up early this year in order to end salary disputes between workers and their employers.
“We have talked with the minister of labour (Paulina Mpariwa) and we have told her that we have to intensify the tripartite negotiations which should clearly stipulate that every worker is paid money that is above the Poverty Datum Line. By increasing national income we are also increasing the aggregate demand which is a sign that the economy is beginning to recover,” said Matombo.
The ZCTU Boss said failure by the government to honour this agreement would result in intensive mass demonstrations throughout the country. He said they have also agreed that the minimum wage should be pegged at US$500.
ZCTU said last year it was reluctant to press the government to increase workers salaries because it wanted to give it a chance to recover from a decade long economic crisis.
“This is a different year and you are going to see national action,” said Matombo.
It remains to be seen whether ZCTU will convince the government to increase workers salaries that much, given the fact that the Finance Minister Tendai Biti last year, when he was presenting the 2011 national budget, promised to double the
civil servants salary.
Relations between the labour body and government have been far from rosy, as the government has failed to increase salaries, while spending more money on foreign trips. Much of the money from Chiadzwa is unaccounted for.
Post published in: Agriculture