Gweru City Council workers have suspended their two-week long strike after management reportedly agreed to pay them their February salaries tomorrow.
By Stephen Chadenga
The workers had been on strike since April 28, protesting over failure by the local authority to pay them outstanding salaries. The protest had paralysed service delivery in the city.
“We agreed as workers to suspend the strike after an agreement with management that they would pay our February salaries this Thursday,” Cornelia Selipiwe, the workers’ committee spokesperson said.
“We made this decision after we received our January salaries last Thursday.”
The stalemate between workers and management ended when Provincial Affairs minister Jason Machaya intervened.
Mayor Hamutendi Kombayi said council was committed to addressing the working conditions of workers.
“We are committed to addressing the workers’ grievances,” he said.
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“We hope dialogue will be the way forward from now onwards as we want to avoid a situation where council operations are affected by strikes.” Gweru City Council has been struggling to meet salary obligations and blames declining revenue for its predicament.
The majority of the country’s local authorities were struggling financially after the government in 2013 ordered them to write off bills that accumulated since 2009.
A sizeable number of ratepayers were failing to pay bills due to high unemployment while government departments take too long to fulfil obligations
