ZCTU prepares for nationwide strikes

By Violet Gonda
28 June 2006

Lovemore Matombo President of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) has confirmed that plans for countrywide demonstrations are at an advanced stage. He said the decision to strike was a resolution made at the labour movement’s congress, after the Tripartite Negotiating Forum (TNF) with government and businesses, collapsed.
Zimbabwe has the fastest shrinking economy and at 1,193.5%, also the highest inflation rate in the world. At the receiving end of this are workers who are suffering immense hardships and failing to make ends meet because of the ever increasing cost of living.
Matombo says this is the reason why the labour body has decided not to waste anymore time waiting for the tripartite negotiations as the “economic crisis is now beyond the TNF.”
Workers are demanding a living wage that is not below the poverty datum line.

Our correspondent Simon Muchemwa said recently that people have become resigned and desperate. The minimum wage in Zimbabwe is around Z$20 to Z$25million meaning that the majority of the working class can no longer afford to cope. Muchemwa said, “An ordinary person would need about Z$200 000 for transport to and from work on a daily basis and would need about Z$35 to Z$40 million to buy basic commodities.

The ZCTU President said, “Our demands are that we also require government to put economic measures that will create a socially responsible economic plan… not these neo liberal economic policies that don’t work.”

Many observers have asked why Zimbabweans have not yet embarked on spontaneous demonstrations since the general economic environment has left the majority of people into poverty? Matombo said, “We need to appreciate and accept that past experiences have shown that Zimbabweans have been a bit docile and it arose from the fact that the government used a political system to mentally disorient and mentally destabilise the Zimbabwean society. But as things stand today the feeling around the ground is completely different.”

The ZCTU plans for action come at a time when the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has warned of a winter of discontent.

When asked about the nature and date of the demonstrations. Matombo responded by saying, “Never you worry about time. What is clear is that those strikes will be a first in the history of this country.

He also said work boycotts are now a thing of the past, “We have discarded stay aways as they have outlived its usefulness.”