GMB corporate communications manager, Muriel Zemura, said the firm’s monthly salary bill stood at US$1.2 million against monthly expenditure of US$1.7million.
“The GMB’s total monthly expenditure stood at US$1.7 million, hence the need to retrench staff to bring the salary bill down to about US$500 000, he said.
Zemura added that the retrenchments were necessitated by the fact that the grain parastatal was struggling to find its footing after years of collapse.
“Production levels at GMB fell tremendously to an extent that there was no active labour at some of our depots, hence the decision to retrench,” Zemura noted.
“The exercise covers everyone from the grounds man to senior management and numbers differ as depots perform differently financially.”
GMB is one of the loss making parastatals that have, over the years, been brought to their knees by a combination of lack of working capital, corruption and mismanagement.
The government plans to privatise GMB. The parastatal has been struggling to pay farmers for maize deliveries, a situation that resulted in it being dragged to court over outstanding payments.
Post published in: Economy