Government services will be disrupted today as Zimbabwe’s civil servants start a nationwide strike to demand for better wages after last-minute negotiations with the government failed. They are pressing for higher wages that are pegged to the US dollar. Zimbabwe has the world’s highest inflation rate, which has eroded civil servants’ wages to around seventy dollars a month.
The government on Tuesday fired 77 doctors who have been on strike for the last two months demanding higher pay.
On Tuesday, the civil servants said in a statement that government had “brought nothing to the table, completely with zero offer, zero cushion and has gone back on its earlier offer to pay all bonuses in November”.
Last year, civil servants were earning an equivalent of four hundred and seventy-five dollars a month before high inflation set in. They want those salaries restored but talks with the government have collapsed. The government says it cannot afford to increase wages, but critics say the pay demands can be met if lavish spending was slashed.
Join our twitter community :