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Freezing of wages and salaries not the panacea to Zimbabwe's problems
Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU)
August 01, 2008

We note with concern, suggestions by the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe Governor Dr Gideon Gono to freeze salaries and wages for workers for a period of six months in order to curb inflation.

The suggestions, which were published in today's The Herald newspaper come at a time when the nation is going through an economic paralysis conundrum which he has dismally failed to address.

In his mid term monetary policy statement on Wednesday, Dr Gono failed to deal with the fundamental issues key to addressing the country's economic malaise, only to dwell on removing zeros, ten for that matter, and re-introducing coins as part of his currency reform.

The governor is very much aware that freezing salaries has nothing to do with the spiraling inflations. He is also aware that productivity can only be matched with proper remuneration, which is a living wage for Zimbabwe's workers.

Currently, just over 20 percent of the country's employable majority is employed in the country's ever dwindling production sector. Instead of addressing productivity issues, it is not fair for the governor to talk about the freezing of salaries.

Every worker has a right to a living wage. Currently the Poverty Datum Line (PDL) is pegged at more than $1400 (reviewed), an amount which very few workers are getting as a salary. How can salaries and wages be frozen when they are well below the cost of living?

Dr Gono is a dreamer and has always been a dreamer and he should wake up from the dream. He used to claim that 'failure was not an option' and celebrated what he though was his success, leaving out other stakeholders, but now that he has been proved that 'failure is an option', he is trying to look-up to workers to help him out of the mess he has created.

As for the social contract, Dr Gono needs to be reminded that there has been no social contract and that there shall be no social contract under the current economic conditions.

Our demand has always been that workers should be given PDL linked wages, which take into cognizance the current prices.

If the RBZ governor insists on freezing wages, workers are prepared to go and camp at the RBZ office, even if it means taking over the RBZ.

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