Private sector should increase worker salaries: ZCTU

Leroy Dzenga

The Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions has called on the private sector to increase salaries in line with the country’s rising cost of living.

The labour body is using the Poverty Datum Line (PDL) of RTGS $1827 as the benchmark.

In an interview with ZTN, ZCTU Secretary General Japhet Moyo said workers earning lower than the PDL are now subsidising their employers.

“Unfortunately we have not had monthly inflation figures in the past few months but our own research shows that it is around 500 percent and any negotiations that do not involve a figure at that scale are not going to help anyone,” Moyo said.

The ZCTU said employers need to adjust what they pay workers with the same scale that they adjust their prices for goods and services.

“We expect the least paid worker to be paid above the Poverty Datum Line ($1827) so they can be able to survive the current cost of living. The ideal amount would be RTGS$ 4000 because that is how much a family of six needs to go through a month comfortably,” he said.

He suggested that if employers are not ready to increase salaries in line with the interbank exchange rate, they should adjust them every month until there is price stability in the market.

Government has awarded its workers salary increments to cushion them from the rising cost of living and there have been calls for the private sector to follow suit.