|
Back to Index
ZCTU
calls strike as fuel price shoots up 40%
Caiphas
Chimhete, The Standard (Zimbabwe)
May 27, 2007
AS the price
of a litre of petrol shot up to $45 000 last week, the powerful
Zimbabwe Congress
of Trade Unions announced it would call for another nationwide
strike in July if workers' wages were not raised to match inflation
3 700%, as of last week.
Lovemore Matombo, the
ZCTU president, said the militant body would demand salaries linked
to inflation,the highest in the world.
"We will
organise a two-day job action in July unless the salaries are linked
to inflation," Matombo said. Last year, as he and other ZCTU
leaders prepared to stage a protest march against declining living
standards, they were seriously "bashed" by State security
agents.
Earlier this
year, the ZCTU staged a strike in protest at poor wages and the
continuing economic decline, which was only partly successful.
Last week, urban transport
operators responded to the 40% increase in the fuel price by raising
their fares by between 30% and 100%.It now costs between $10 000
and $15 000 for a single trip into the Harare central business district
(CBD) from most residential areas.
But commuters
from Chitungwiza, 25km from the city, now fork out $20 000 a single
trip and need $880 000 a month for transport alone.
Other commuting
workers from suburbs nearer Harare now require $440 000 a month
for transport alone.
With 80% of
the country's workforce reportedly earning between $350 000 and
$500 000 a month, this means the majority of the workers will be
working to sustain their transport costs to work alone.
The poverty
datum line now tops $1,7 million, according to the Consumer
Council of Zimbabwe.
Abel Munesu of Glen View
said transport costs alone now consume most of his monthly salary
of $512 000 a month.
"For the
whole month, I now need $440 000 for transport alone. It means I
will be left with $72 000 for food, rent, school fees and other
basic needs," said Munesu, who works for a printing company
in Harare.
Please credit www.kubatana.net if you make use of material from this website.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License unless stated otherwise.
TOP
|
