adminPatrick Chitumba Midlands Bureau Chief
CASH-strapped Gweru City Council, which is struggling to pay its workers, has proposed a two-weeks-in two-weeks-out working calendar aimed at controlling the ballooning wage arrears.
Finance committee chairperson councillor Albert Chirau confirmed the development saying that his committee was today going to present to the full council meeting its recommendations for workers to report for work for only 14 days each month.
If the recommendations are adopted, Clr Chirau said, that would result in the slashing of workers’ salaries by half until they return to a normal working calendar.
“Yes we’re proposing a two-weeks-in two-weeks-out working schedule for the employees since we are struggling with the ballooning wage bill,” he said.
“The full council has the final say and is meeting tomorrow (today) for deliberations. So a council resolution on the matter will be known after the meeting.”
GCC has a 1,300 strong-workforce who are owed thousands of dollars in back pay and management has indicated that they have no plans for job cuts.
Council’s salary bill is around $130,000 monthly with the lowest paid worker taking home $310 in earnings.
Clr Chirau was recently quoted as saying that revenue inflows in council have been dropping since May last year.
“We had been collecting $1,5 million per month but the figure has since dropped to $1,1 million and you can imagine the effect of having a shortfall of $400,000 on council operations,” he said.
In a move aimed at boosting revenue inflows, council has created a debt collection unit whose mandate is to collect outstanding debts from residents and businesses.
Council also extended an olive branch to business by slashing outstanding bills by 50 percent for companies which settle their accounts.
The facility by council to business comes barely two years after government ordered local authorities to write off debts to residents, a situation which reduced debts to the Midlands capital to $13 million.
Council debt has since ballooned to $33 million.
Online Reporter