GWERU City Council and its workers are headed for a showdown at a meeting set for today with the employees threatening to embark on industrial action over late payment of salaries. OWN CORRESPONDENT
Today’s meeting is meant to deliberate on issues affecting workers who were only paid their February salaries last Friday.
Mayor Hamutendi Kombayi addressed workers last week and asked them to be patient with his council and promised that the local authority would strive to meet salary obligations timeously.
The Zimbabwe Urban Council Workers’ Union secretary for Gweru, Kudakwashe Munengiwa, confirmed the meeting with council management.
“The union and council management will meet tomorrow (today) to try and iron out issues that are affecting workers,” he said.
“We want the best for everyone at minimal costs. Workers have already demanded that tools be downed, but we are weighing our options.”
Since dolarisation, the cash-strapped municipality has been failing to pay workers on time and only started paying December bonuses last month to the lower grades. Council has, however, been failing to balance between paying bonuses to all workers and paying salaries on time.
