HARARE City council workers have threatened a crippling industrial action if council fails to improve their working conditions.
By Our Staff
In a petition to the mayor Bernard Manyenyeni (pictured right) dated December 18, the three council workers unions — Harare Municipal Workers Union (HMWU), Zimbabwe Urban Councils Workers Union (ZUCWU) and Harare Branch and Water and Allied Workers Union of Zimbabwe (WAWUZ) — said they had noted with despair the ever deteriorating conditions of the workers.
The workers complained that they were not getting their salaries on time and had not been given their annual bonuses while top executives earned “abnormal salaries and pampered themselves with top-of-the-range vehicles”.
“These council officials are the ones earning those exorbitant, mega and obscene salaries (sic) in contrast to our members who are earning embarrassingly below the poverty datum line. This should be stopped immediately or else employees are going to engage in an industrial action until their interests are met,” reads part of the petition.
The Harare City Council is in several months of salary arrears. There have also been reports that the executives were earning huge salaries at the expense of the general workers. Town Clerk Tendai Mahachi was said to be earning close to US$40 000 per month.
