ZBC workers go for months without pay

via ZBC workers go for months without pay – DailyNews Live by Lloyd Mbiba 17 SEPTEMBER 2013

HARARE – Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation (ZBC) workers who have gone for the past four months without pay are now pinning their hopes on new Media, Information and Broadcasting Services minister Jonathan Moyo to address their plight.

ZBC workers last got salaries in April this year.

Sivukile Simango, the Corporation’s spokesperson,  declined to comment on the matter.

Morale is said to have hit rock bottom at the station.

“It is been four months since we were last paid, and it seems like this month we might not get any of our monies,” said one of the ZBC workers who spoke on condition of anonymity fearing victimisation.

“Moyo (Jonathan) summoned our bosses on Thursday last week ,and read a riot act to them. He ordered them to come up with a new structure which scraps the bloated management.  The new structure will render most of the managers useless and this is good for us as the workers committee because the management gobbles more than half of the salary bill.”

The State broadcaster has been struggling to pay its workers since last year, and has been relying on overdrafts to finance its soaring wage bill driven mostly by the excessive and unsustainable perks for top management.

“We hope that heads will soon roll because we are tired of suffering at the hands of the management which earns unrealistic salaries,” another ZBC worker said.

The disgruntled workers wrote to President Robert Mugabe in May appealing to him to address their plight.

In a letter dated May 30, 2013, the employees said they were failing to buy food, pay rentals and school fees for their children because they were not receiving their salaries from the State broadcaster.

The employees said management was arrogant whenever asked about the salaries and better working conditions.