{"id":401,"date":"2018-12-28T11:50:07","date_gmt":"2018-12-28T11:50:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.com\/zimbabwe\/?p=401"},"modified":"2018-12-28T16:31:39","modified_gmt":"2018-12-28T16:31:39","slug":"workers-threaten-national-shutdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/economy\/workers-threaten-national-shutdown","title":{"rendered":"Workers threaten national shutdown"},"content":{"rendered":"

THE Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) has demanded that President Emmerson Mnangagwa\u2019s government decisively tackle the country\u2019s economic challenges or risk workers going on an indefinite strike saying thousands of employees were on the verge of losing their jobs as companies shut down while earnings have been severely eroded.<\/span><\/p>\n

ZCTU president Peter Mutasa, in an exclusive interview told NewsDay that the 2019 outlook was that of a tough period and there were indications that many companies may fail to reopen in the new year.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe country is coming to a total shutdown. We are not pessimistic, but we saw this in 2008 and all the signs are heading towards a second 2008. Unfortunately, in this period, we don\u2019t think that we have leadership. The State is not well coordinated, so we are facing a very serious crisis,\u201d Mutasa said<\/p>\n

said only a united labour force and citizens had the power to stop the economic rot, by confronting the Mnangagwa regime for answers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe think citizens are going to rise to the occasion. For the workers, the ZCTU has given its leadership a mandate that we must co-ordinate all workers and unions, even those that are not within our federations. We want to unite all unions; unite the poor, the farmers, the students \u2014 all the progressive forces and wage
\na struggle to force the government to the negotiating table,\u201d Mutasa said.<\/p>\n

The workers, who have faced brutal attacks from the police every time they have tried to go on the streets, said they were unmoved and would down tools.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis January, workers should just down tools. We should just stop working until there are economic reforms. You have seen what has happened with the doctors; we are going to see teachers doing the same, civil servants \u2014 we will be calling on all workers to stop working and demand economic reforms. So it\u2019s going to be a very sensitive January,\u201d Mutasa said.<\/p>\n

Salaries for workers remain bench-marked at United States dollar values but they get paid in bond notes and electronic transfers, which have lost 67% of their value in the last quarter despite government insistence that its surrogate currency at par with the greenback.<\/p>\n

Prices in bond notes have, however, been adjusted to reflect the discrepancies between government policy and reality on the ground.<\/p>\n

Already, ZCTU has started telling its members in the mining, cotton and tobacco industry not to accept payment in real time gross settlement and instead only accept US$.
\nEconomist Joseph Kanyenze said 2019 could be a lost year if Zimbabwe\u2019s main political parties fail to talk to each other, and have a social contract to deal with the current crisis.<\/p>\n

Even if people are not mobilised you could see social unrest. Workers can down tools, yes, because of the loss of value in their salaries, but that will not be a solution, dialogue for a social contract will bring us out of this crisis,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Kanyenze said re-engagement with the international community, which Mnangagwa has prioritised to end the country\u2019s decades of isolation under former President Robert Mugabe, would not immediately happen or bring results without fundamentals being addressed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have been doing the wrong things for a long time so we are not going to come from gloom to glory overnight. Remember, re-engagement will only happen after we settle our obligations and reforms. And we are also facing a drought that will make things worse,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Kanyenze said Zanu PF and MDC needed to talk with each other and also heal fissures in their respective parties.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately, the current government is a continuation of the past; we are not seeing anything meaningful in terms of reforms,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

MDC leader Nelson Chamisa told NewsDay yesterday that the Zimbabwe crisis could only be solved through political dialogue.<\/p>\n

\u201cNext year, the social fabric looks to be taking a big beating. Economic stability can only be built on political stability and legitimacy, and of course political stability. It rests on economic viability. At the moment, the problem is that there is no confidence in the economy, in the market, in the country,\u201d Chamisa said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

THE Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) has demanded that President Emmerson Mnangagwa\u2019s government decisively tackle the country\u2019s economic challenges or risk workers going on an indefinite strike saying thousands of employees were on the verge of losing their jobs as companies shut down while earnings have been severely eroded. ZCTU president Peter Mutasa, in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":403,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,6,8,11],"tags":[83,82,48],"class_list":{"0":"post-401","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-all-news","8":"category-economy","9":"category-head-lines","10":"category-photo","11":"tag-economy","12":"tag-workers","13":"tag-zimbawen-economy"},"yoast_head":"\nWorkers threaten national shutdown - zimbabwe<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/economy\/workers-threaten-national-shutdown\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Workers threaten national shutdown\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"THE Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) has demanded that President Emmerson Mnangagwa\u2019s government decisively tackle the country\u2019s economic challenges or risk workers going on an indefinite strike saying thousands of employees were on the verge of losing their jobs as companies shut down while earnings have been severely eroded. 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