GWANDA Town Council workers have threatened to go on an indefinite strike to force the local authority to pay them outstanding salaries.
ALBERT NCUBE OWN CORRESPONDENT
Workers have not been paid for the past five months and council has indicated it does not have the money to pay up.
However, the municipality this week hired casual workers to cut overgrown grass in the town’s 10 wards after approving a $5 000 budget for the process, raising the ire of workers.
Workers said they viewed the move as a campaign gimmick as councillors were responsible for the hiring of casual workers.
“It boggles the mind how a cash-strapped municipality can employ casual workers and pay them $50 each yet we have gone for five months without pay. Management and councillors have clearly shown us that they do not care about our plight as workers,” said a worker, who declined to be named.
Council workers last month indicated that they would attach council houses, but the Zimbabwe Urban Councils Workers’ Union Gwanda branch chairperson Sipho Ndlovu said they had now decided to embark on an indefinite strike to press council to pay them.
“If nothing is done in the next few days then we will have no option but to embark on an indefinite strike and this time around we are not going back to work until all our dues are paid,” he said.
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An indefinite strike would severely impact service delivery. It would be the second industrial action taken by the workers this year should the threats be implemented.
In April, workers downed tools for two days and it was called off after an agreement was reached that outstanding salaries would be cleared by August.
