…amid outrageous nationwide power cuts
Rutendo Chirume
Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions’ (ZCTU) affiliated Zimbabwe Energy Workers Union [ZEWU] has threatened of an imminent strike, warning their employer Zimbabwe Electricity Power Authority (ZESA) not to be surprised if they fail to consistently report to work as expected because they are incapacitated due to poor salaries.
The union wrote a letter to ZESA Excutive Chairperson Sydney Gata on February 14 citing that ZESA have taken their patience for a weakness, that is why the state owned company has been refusing to engage its employees to discuss salary increments and therefore ZEWU members feel they are no longer capacitated to report for duty due to unbearable economic conditions.
“Funeral cover has gone up to 200 percent, medical insurance premiums by 300 percent and many services including school fees, rentals and fuel require foreign currency. It is clear that without salary reviews, your employees remain incapacitated to fend for their families and will be left with no choice except to report for duty inconsistently until the matter is resolved,’’ warned ZEWU.
ZEWU also accused ZESA for failing to finalise last year’s bargaining negotiations which created disunity among workers as they feel that their representatives are somehow benefitting and said the gap between continuous price hikes of basic commodities and their current salaries is too parallel which is why they found themselves heavily incapacitated.
“The situation has been exacerbated by the recent and non-stoppable price hikes of basic commodities and failure by the employer using ‘no mandate’ slogan to finalise the 2021 collective bargaining negotiations. Please note that this ‘no mandate’ stance has created disharmony between the unions and their constituencies as members feel union are somehow benefitting from the many fruitless so –called bargaining meetings,’’ reads the letter.
A strike by ZESA employees would come as a huge blow to an already ailing company and likely see faults going unattended or delayed causing further disruption to consumers who are already facing outrageous power cuts across the country.
