RESERVE Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) governor John Mangudya has reportedly sealed a deal with the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) to refer the proposed wage increase freeze issue to the Tripartite Negotiating Forum (TNF) for further deliberations. BY OUR STAFF
In a statement last Friday, ZCTU secretary-general Japhet Moyo said the deal was sealed last week following a meeting with the central bank governor.
“The ZCTU wishes to inform workers that the meeting agreed that the issue of wage freeze be referred to the TNF for deliberation as this is the rightful forum for such issues,” Moyo said.
“The governor also agreed that in future, he will consult labour before making his monetary statement.”
Mangudya has over the past few weeks been on a campaign to urge employers to effect a blanket salary increase freeze as party of efforts to stabilise the country’s pricing structure and bring normalcy to the economy.
Moyo said during the meeting, the labour body also demanded that government should carry out a thorough audit to flush out ghost workers from its payroll.
The workers also indicated that they wanted the salary gap between management and workers to be reduced and called on government to revisit the country’s punitive tax regime and enact a law that would protect whistleblowers.
The issue of salaries has been thorny since the beginning of the year with civil servants on several occasions threatening to embark on industrial action over low pay and poor working conditions. Mangudya could not be reached for comment yesterday.
