ZCTU threaten general strike if government fails to meet worker demands

By Lance Guma
29 January 2007

The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) has warned government it will call for a general strike if the demands of workers across the country are not addressed by the 23rd February. The union announced its general council will meet on the 24th February to decide on dates for the industrial action. In an interview with Newsreel, the ZCTU Secretary General Wellington Chibhebhe said it was incorrect to say the strike by doctors and nurses was the main reason for their resolution but that this was part of a broader programme aimed at addressing the concerns of workers countrywide.

He says the ZCTU general council meeting in December last year had recommended a review of the situation in January before planning any form of action. This he says is what has happened. Asked whether they had missed an opportunity to strike now, when the momentum of the doctors and nurses strike was still high, Chibhebhe lashed out at what he called armchair critics who, he says, never lift a finger when activists on the ground are victimised. ‘There are practical realities to consider,’ he explained, ‘most companies were still closed in January.’ This he says made it unwise for them to plan any strikes during that time.

He says the strikes in the health, tobacco and energy sectors all reflected the economic meltdown the country was going through. The ZCTU are also recommending the establishment of a price stabilization protocol so ordinary people did not suffer. Meanwhile the Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) announced its members will begin a go-slow strike beginning Wednesday this week. Its Secretary General Raymond Majongwe told journalists, if their salary demands were not met they would engage a full-blown strike beginning Monday next week. The lowest paid teacher is earning Z$84 000 while those up the ladder get Z$157 000 and yet the poverty datum line is now Z$344 000, and rising.