Council, workers strike deal on pay dates

Source: Council, workers strike deal on pay dates | The Herald June 20, 2019

Mr Bungu

Yeukai Karengezeka Herald Correspondent
Harare City Council workers and management have agreed to have a fixed pay date starting next month. Management also undertook to clear all salary arrears.

The issues were agreed upon during a meeting between the two parties on a salary review and clearance of outstanding salaries for employees that are in grades 5 to 16.

In an interview, Harare Municipality Workers’ Union executive chairman Mr Cosmas Bungu said employees will now be paid on the 28th of every month, while all outstanding salaries will be cleared by October 2019.

“We have agreed with the employer that with effect from July going forward, our pay date will be the 28th of every month,” he said.

“In the past, they were not honouring collective bargaining under Statutory Instrument 135 of 2012.
“We also agreed that all outstanding salaries for May and June 2019 as well as 2018 bonuses should all be cleared by October 31, 2019.”

Mr Bungu said despite lobbying for a 100 percent salary increase since the beginning of the year and hardship allowance for all workers, management failed to address the matter.

“Since the beginning of this year we have been demanding a 100 percent increase in our salary and allowances and we are deadlocked on the matter,” he said.

“We had proposed a hardship allowance of $250 from grades 5 to 16, but we are deadlocked again and the matter is before arbitration.

“It is quite unfortunate that the employer is not taking cognisance of what is happening in the economy.
“Many workers can no longer afford to buy even the basic commodities because prices are sky-rocketing.”