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Senior Business Reporters
THE National Employment Council for the Printing, Packaging and Newspaper Industry has awarded workers in the sector a 7,6 percent salary increment with effect from this month. An industry source from the NEC who was part of the 2014 collective bargaining negotiations for workers in the printing, packaging and newspaper industry told Business Chronicle yesterday that the new salary increment schedule had already been sent to companies in the sector.
“We have concluded the negotiations and we have awarded workers in the printing, packaging and newspaper industry a 7,6 percent salary increment effective this month. We have also highlighted that those companies that are able to back date the pay rise to January 2014 can do so,” said the source.
Before the pay rise, the lowest paid worker in the sector was earning $313,78 inclusive of allowances.
The pay rise awarded by the NEC for workers in the printing packaging and newspaper industry comes at a time when the government and public service unions last month agreed on a salary deal that would see the lowest paid employee in the civil service earning three quarters of the Poverty Datum Line (PDL) pegged at $505.
Meanwhile, the third round of the 2014 collective bargaining negotiations for workers in the tourism industry have been concluded with workers in Sector 1 being awarded a 5,5 percent increment with a 45,5 percent being awarded to those in Sector 2.
The tourism sector is divided into two sections – Sector 1 is for hotel and lodges employees of which the least paid worker presently earns $275 per month and Sector 2 for those in conservation, safari and wildlife operations where the lowest paid worker earns $70.
Following the new salary increment schedule, the lowest paid worker in Sector 1 now takes home $103 while the least paid in Sector 2 takes home $280 excluding allowances.
The employees represented by the Zimbabwe Tourism and Allied Workers’ Union and the National Museums and Monuments were demanding a pay rise of between 130 percent and 236 percent to bring them closer to the PDL.
Employers’ Association for Tours and Safari Operators of the Leisure Tourism Industry Clement Mukwasi said:
“As employers, we felt that the increment is too high considering the rate of inflation, the 15 percent tax proposed by the government on foreign tourists, Zesa, the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority and council rates. These utilities are increasing rates meaning the costs of operations in the sector are becoming high when the number of tourists arriving in the country is not increasing at all.”
The Zimbabwe Tourism and Allied Workers’ Union acting secretary-general Penel Chinoda said the increment was ridiculous.
“We wanted 100 percent increment so that our constituency at least reaches the poverty datum line. With this increment, they will still remain underpaid when their bosses are living wonderfully. So we will go for arbitration,” he said.
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