Offices and factories in Zimbabwe’s two main cities were operating as normal on Wednesday on the second day of a 48-hour strike called by the main labour organisation over the deepening economic crisis.
The first day of the job boycott on Tuesday was only partially observed and even more workers appeared to have shunned the call on the second day of the stoppage organised by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU).
The government described the work boycott as ”a dismal flop”, but the ZCTU was adamant the action was effective and that it was the first of more protests.
”Turnout at workplaces is very low, although some factories were opened,” said ZCTU secretary general Wellington Chibebe. ”This is only the beginning. We are going to have this kind of action every three months until things improve.”
Many workers have expressed sympathy with the ZCTU push for higher wages and working conditions, but say they can ill afford to forsake part of their pay or risk losing their jobs with 80% of the population unemployed.
”If I had a choice I would have heeded the strike call, but our management said we risked losing part of our wages if we didn’t come to work,” said Patricia Gumbo, a bank teller in Harare’s Southerton industrial area.
Grace Matema, a factory worker in Harare, said job boycotts were a waste of time and only street protests would have a real effect. ”People are tired of these stayaways because they have not achieved much. After the stayaway you lose your pay and there is no compensation. We should just go on the streets spontaneously.”
Military helicopters hovered over the populous Chitungwiza township, a known political hotbed, on the second day of the strike, but the numbers of police patrolling the streets were fewer than on Tuesday.
The ZCTU, formerly led by chief opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, demanded that the government take steps to rein in inflation, which stood at 1 730% in March; reduce tax for low-income earners; and provide free antiretroviral drugs for people living with HIV and Aids.
Agence France-Press correspondents in central Harare said full bus services were running while post offices, banks, government offices and shops were all open. In the Msasa industrial area, factories were working and street vendors sitting behind their makeshift stalls.
In the second city of Bulawayo, most shops and offices were open while factories that temporarily closed on Tuesday were operating.
Previous street protests planned by the labour union over the mounting economic crisis had been crushed by security forces. — Sapa-AFP