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Mass strikes loom as Zim's economy worsens
Godfrey Marawanyika, Mail & Guardian (SA)
April 09, 2006

http://www.mg.co.za/articlepage.aspx?area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__africa/&articleid=268905

The possibility of mass strikes loom on the horizon for Zimbabwe's embattled economy as workers demand higher wages to cushion them against soaring living costs because of hyper-inflation and shortages of foreign currencies.

Wage talks opened two weeks ago and were expected to continue until the end of the month in Zimbabwe, where large-scale labour action could become a reality for the first time in eight years, according to unionists.

Zimbabwe's inflation reached an all-time high of 913,6% on Friday with no end in sight for price hikes, analysts added, bringing more hardship to the Southern African country.

"Although there have not been many strikes for some time now, industrial actions are most likely to happen this year," said union spokesperson Collin Gwiyo.

"The salaries that most workers get are an embarrassment. By the time we get to August there will be a series of wage and salary deadlocks," said Gwiyo, acting secretary general of the major Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU).

Independent economic analyst Best Doroh added: "It's obvious that the potential for deadlock between employers and employees is quite high."

"The purchasing power of wages for the factory worker even those for civil servants have been severely eroded," said Doroh.

Zimbabwe's annual inflation rate rose from 613,2% in January to the record high Friday, blamed partly by central bank governor Gideon Gono 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 21-trillion Zimbabwean dollars ($211-million) to buy foreign currency to clear the country's arrears with the IMF.

Zimbabwe last month paid nine million US dollars to the IMF to avert expulsion from the global lender over the long-overdue arrears.

Analysts however 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 1,3-million Zimbabwean dollars ($13) a month, mine workers got 6,5-million Zimbabwean dollars, while school teachers got 8,5-million Zimbabwean dollars.

The average room rental price in the high density areas of the capital Harare topped at between 1,5 and two million Zimbabwean dollars, while Zimbabwe's highest currency denomination, a 50 000 bearer cheque introduced in February, is not enough to buy a loaf of bread.

Gwiyo said the average worker needed 25-30 million Zimbabwean dollars a month to make ends meet.

He said the Southern African country's workforce have for years refrained from taking to the streets in numbers fearing reprisals under Harare's tough security laws which forbid strikes and marches without police clearance.

Unionists also feared that mass action would be construed as political as the leader of one faction of Zimbabwe's divided opposition is Morgan Tsvangirai, a former ZCTU secretary general who led mass strikes in 1998.

But employees said their hands were tied should strikes go ahead.

"Employers are in the same predicament as their workers," said Employers Confederation of Zimbabwe president Mike Bimba.

"We have not had many strikes over the years because of our cordial relationship with workers ... and I hope it will continue," he said.

Everybody knows that the economic situation is to blame for these problems both employers and employees are facing."

Economist Erich Block said although wage talks would see a number of deadlocks, he believed that 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," he said. - Sapa-AFP

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