Shops and businesses were open Saturday in the Zimbabwe capital Harare following a three-day national strike called by the country’s main labour body over fuel prices.
Shoppers crowded the streets of the capital, while hundreds queued outside banks to withdraw money following the strike action that shut down most businesses in the capital.
The strike, which started on Wednesday was reportedly widely followed in other major cities, although smaller towns were operating as normal, according to reports on Friday.
The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) called the strike in protest over last week’s fuel price increase, that saw the pump price of petrol almost treble.
The union has threatened an indefinite stayaway if the government does not reverse the price hike, which has seen urban commuter fares escalate. Zimbabwe’s workers are already battling against widespread shortages of basic commodities and inflation of 228%.
In an apparent bid to placate workers, the government this week announced new transport fares and a hike in workers’ wages to ”cushion” workers from the effects of the new fuel prices.
However, the ZCTU has dismissed the new wages as a ”firefighting” measure by the government to ”hoodwink workers” into believing it has their interests at heart.
On Thursday the government announced significant increases in the minimum wages for workers in industry, commerce, agriculture and horticulture. But these were quickly rejected by the ZCTU.
”The minimum wages will only go a short way in cushioning the wrkers against price increases,” Willard Chibhebhe, the labour body’s secretary general was quoted as saying in a statement.
”The government is just trying to protect itself from the harsh reality that it has failed to protect the workers from its skewed economic policies,” the Daily News quoted the statement as saying. – Sapa-AFP