Call for workers to unite for the collective good

Peter Mutasa

The majority of Government workers earn meager salaries and continue to live far below the Poverty Datum Line (PDL). On the other hand, government has come under fire for its insincerity in as far as improving the welfare of its workers is concerned.

Trade unionism has been criminalized and the result has been brutality against trade union leaders.

Below, we publish Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition Chairperson, Peter Mutasa’s call for civil servants to organize and push for better wages;

“We are witnessing unusual occurrences in the labour market. A massive devaluation of labour through repression, state terror tactics and debilitating neoliberalism. The magnitude of state terror towards labour that we have witnessed since the November 2017 coup is only paralleled to the colonial era. We saw the abduction of Peter Magombeyi when doctors dared the military junta and went on strike. The dismissal of striking nurses and now soldiers visiting and threatening incapacitated teachers all points to revival of the colonial or apartheid industrial relations.

In terms of wages, the majority of workers in Zimbabwe have been thrust into modern slavery. The majority are earning below the Poverty Datum Line and many even below the Food Poverty Line. It now makes financial sense for a doctor, a teacher, a nurse and other public service workers to leave their office jobs and work as domestic or farm workers in South Africa.

Zimbabwean workers must have learnt from the past that it is not possible to fight successfully in individual sectors. The regime will use draconian means to threaten, brutalize and dismiss the few workers. The problem workers face is not emanating from the labour market. It is a result of political decisions such as the brute austerity measures and currency debauchery. These cannot be cured through traditional labour market instruments like collective bargaining.

Trade unions need to mobilize workers for collective political action such as general strikes and other forms of protests. There is no other option for the impoverished workers of Zimbabwe. It is time for a General Strike.”