Zimbabwe government backtracks on wage freeze

Sep 16, 2007, 7:13 GMT

Harare - The Zimbabwe government appears to have backtracked on a wage freeze just days before a strike planned by the main labour union, official reports said Sunday.

On August 30 President Robert Mugabe decreed that there should be no wage, rental and fee increases without permission from his government for the next six months.

A week later the authorities, which had previously frozen prices for two months, allowed shop prices to rise by 20 per cent.

The move angered the main Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU), which has called on its 350,000 or so members to go on a two- strike this Wednesday and Thursday to protest against the wage freeze among other grievances.

But the state-controlled Sunday Mail insisted the government had not frozen wages.

Labour Minister Nicholas Goche told the paper that the authorities were working on amendments to the presidential decree.

'We are working on amendments as far as incomes are concerned,' the minister was quoted as saying.

Under the original regulation employers were forbidden from linking wages to inflation, or to the unofficial exchange rate for the Zimbabwe dollar against major currencies.

Zimbabwe's economy is in freefall, and its currency is steadily weakening against currencies such as the US dollar.

No more details on the amendments were given, but Goche told the Sunday Mail, a government mouthpiece, that the changes were likely to be finalized by Tuesday, the day before the strike is supposed to begin.

Conditions for most Zimbabweans are getting harder since Mugabe's government ordered price cuts of at least 50 per cent in late June.

Most basics like cooking oil, meat and milk have disappeared from stores, but have reappeared on the black market at inflated prices.

Bread, which is supposed to sell for 30,000 Zimbabwe dollars (1 US dollar) per loaf is selling for up to 200,000 dollars (6.60 US) on the black market.

Wages of many workers are failing to keep pace with the prices and the world's highest rate of inflation of 7,600 per cent.

Last week some teachers at government schools refused to teach because of poor pay.

The ZCTU wants wages linked to the poverty datum line of at least 8.2 million Zimbabwe dollars a month. Last week it published advertisements in the private press, calling workers to stay away from work on the set days.

The Sunday Mail said workers in Harare were relieved at the news the government had lifted the wage freeze.