By Norm Dixon
As a national strike by 165,000 public sector workers entered its third week, the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) warned the government that workers in the private sector would also walk out if it continued to refuse to negotiate. The general strike is set to begin on September 9.
Government services have been crippled by the biggest strike since Zimbabwe's independence in 1980. Hospitals are functioning only with the aid of strike breakers from the army and Red Cross. Mortuaries are overflowing, and many of the country's airports and border posts are closed. Thousands of strikers gather daily in Africa Unity Square in central Harare to demonstrate.
The strike was sparked when Harare hospital nurses walked out, angry at a 6% pay rise when they had been led to believe they would get 20%. A day later the strike spread throughout the civil service. The government said it was illegal and ordered the strikers to return to work before negotiations could begin.
"We don't take kindly to illegal strikes", said President Robert Mugabe. "Already the public service is far too large, and it may be an opportunity for us to reduce it."
Mugabe's government on August 30 said workers who refused to return to work were dismissed. Labour minister Florence Chitauro made the announcement on television. "We were not hired on television so we cannot be fired on television", responded Givemore Masongorera, leader of the Zimbabwe Public Service Association.
Until all workers are reinstated, the unions insist, the strike will not end. "Unless the minister reinstates everybody it fired, blood will spill in the streets", warned Gibson Sibanda, president of the ZCTU.
The government at first offered public servants a rise of 6-9%, but unions rejected the offer. The government gave ground as the strike entered its second week and announced a 20% increase for all public servants. The unions were not satisfied, pointing out that public sector pay languishes more than 170% behind the private sector and that Zimbabwe's annual inflation rate is 22%. Unions are demanding increases of 30-60% and the reinstatement of the "13th cheque" annual bonus, which was abolished in 1995.
The average wage for a public servant has fallen more than 40% in real terms since 1990. As part of a deal with the IMF and World Bank, Zimbabwe is bound to reduce the public service by 25,000 jobs and the public sector's wage bill from 18% of GDP to 13%. While austerity has been imposed on workers, parliamentarians and ministers voted themselves a 60% pay rise recently. Workers were further angered when Mugabe spent millions of taxpayers' funds on his lavish wedding and honeymoon.