Zimbabwe’s main labour body marked International Workers’ Day on Thursday by warning thousands of supporters to brace themselves for confrontation, saying things would not improve without a change of regime.
Meanwhile a rival workers’ union aligned to the government of President Robert Mugabe ruled out job stayaways as a form of protest, saying they did nothing to alleviate the suffering of the country’s workers.
In a May Day speech to some 5 000 people at a stadium in Harare, Lovemore Matombo, the president of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) told workers to be prepared to take up the next call to action against the government.
Last week the ZCTU called a three-day national strike after the government trebled the price of petrol, a move the union said meant workers would be spending most of their wages just getting to and from work.
The union has vowed to embark on an indefinite strike if the price hikes are not reversed.
”From tomorrow (Friday), we should be prepared for the tactics that we’re going to announce and use in response to the fuel price increase,” said Matombo.
The crowd chanted ”stayaway, stayaway” in response.
In a statement released earlier, Matombo vowed that future action by the workers would be ”more effective and telling than ever before”.
The union boss told cheering supporters there could be no change in the country’s fortunes without a change of government.
”The core of Zimbabwe’s problem is that of governance. It’s nothing else.”
However, he described last week’s stayaway — which was widely followed in the country’s main cities — as a failure because the price of fuel ”hasn’t gone down yet”.
The government has ruled out a reversal of the fuel price, saying the increase was needed to bring the country’s fuel prices in line with other countries in the region.
In an apparent attempt to placate workers, the government last week announced an increase in minimum wages to ”cushion” workers from the fuel price hike.
But the ZCTU president scoffed at the new minimum wage for industrial workers, now set at Z$47 000 (about $57), saying it barely covered fares paid by the average worker to get to and from work.
”It is the workers who really understand what poverty is,” Matombo said.
Elsewhere in the capital, the government-backed Zimbabwe Federation of Trade Unions (ZFTU) scorned the use of mass action as advocated by its rival, which is closely aligned to the main opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).
”Stayaways do not give us more money and now that you have been on a stayaway, has the price of fuel been reduced?” asked ZFTU vice president and independence war veteran leader, Joseph Chinotimba.
A crowd of around 10 000 people attended the ZFTU rally, but it was not clear whether they were there to support the union or to attend a soccer match due to be played by two top teams at the same venue that afternoon.
The event was poorly organised, with Labour Minister July Moyo, who was scheduled to speak at the event, failing to turn up.
The ZFTU and its officials complained of low wages not being ”in tandem with high inflation prevailing in the country”.
Inflation is currently estimated to be 228%.
The organisation’s president, Alfred Makwarimba, said workers had been subjected to ”untold suffering” brought on by low wages, high transport fares and shortages of food.
The ZFTU also rejected the new minimum wages proposed by the government and called for subsidies on food and commuter bus fares.
Makwarimba said his union was calling on ”on all workers to remain steadfast and not allow themselves to become pawns in the political games being played in this country”.
The government has accused the opposition and the ZCTU of being used by Western powers to undermine the government. – Sapa-AFP