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Yeukai Karengezeka Municipal Correspondent
Harare City Council workers’ representatives have given the local authority a seven day ultimatum to address several issues such as reviewing of salaries and transport allowances and the allocation of serviced stands to workers.
The employees are represented by the Harare Municipal Workers Union, Zimbabwe Urban Councils Workers Union, Water and Allied Workers Union of Zimbabwe and Zimbabwe Allied Municipalities Workers Union representing employees in Grades 5-16.
According to the ultimatum issued by Harare Municipal Workers’ Union executive chairman and employee party chairperson Mr Cosmas Bungu their members will only report for duty twice a week if council fails to meet their demands.
“We are giving them seven days, up to the 6th of November 2019, to resolve the above issues. Failure of which our members will be financially incapacitated and will only be able to report for duty twice a week and the Central Works Council in conjunction with Departmental Works Councils should make arrangements to ensure that residents continue to get service,” he said.
He said Harare City Council was supposed to review employees’ salaries in tandem with the prevailing economic conditions but has not been doing so resulting in the lowest employee now being paid a paltry $350 a month.
“City of Harare employees cannot continue to live on slave wage salaries, which cannot sustain them. The least paid employee now earns about $350 yet the least paid Government employees is earning $1 023, although this is considered to be low.
“This minimum pay condemns all employees in Grades (5 to 16) to extreme poverty, which is diabolic and an affront to economic and social justice in the workplace,” he said.
Mr Bungu accused council of not complying with arbitral awards.
“We are now urgently demanding payment of 2,5 percent backpay for 2017 and 6 percent for 2018. We also want payment of $125 hardship allowance as well as immediate increase of basic salary,” he said.
The workers have also demanded for the immediate finalisation of allocation of serviced stands to employees in lieu of their 2015 salary arrears.
They are also demanding that transport allowance be reviewed and paid weekly since fuel prices are rising every week or for the allowances to be pegged in United States dollars and paid out at the prevailing interbank rate. Harare City Council spokesperson Mr Michael Chideme said they were seized with the issue.
“Council is seized with the issues of employees’ welfare. Corrective and collective measures are being looked into to ensure service delivery is not disrupted and our workers are motivated to deliver their mandate.”
The ultimatum comes as the city fathers and management continue to be extravagant through spending millions of ratepayers money on out of town workshops in defiance of a Ministry of Local Government, Public Works and National Housing directive for them to suspend such activities.
Online Reporter