Pay US$ bonuses: ZCTU
THE Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) has implored employers to pay their workers United States-dollar (US$) bonuses following government’s decision to pay civil servants’ bonuses in foreign currency.
Government has already begun paying its workers the 13th cheque in US$, and will make the payment in two batches in November and December.
In a statement yesterday, ZCTU said government’s move to pay its workers bonuses in US$ was confirmation that the local currency has been rendered useless.
“Though the ZCTU appreciates the principle of payment of remuneration in foreign currency as a noble example by government being the major employer, we call upon government to extend this same principle to all of its workers' pensionable emoluments to permanently alleviate them from the current economic hardships,” the statement read.
“In the same vein, we are calling upon all employers, including those in the private sector, to emulate the government by incentivising their employees by giving them a well-deserved bonus after a year of hard work. Each year, most workers look forward to the 13th cheque as a goodwill gesture by employers to motivate them to work harder. Indeed in some companies, the 13th cheque is part and parcel of an employment contract.”
ZCTU said a number of private employers were still paying their employees in local currency when it was no longer viable and the economy had dollarised.
ZCTU acting secretary-general Runesu Dzimiri said: “There is no doubt that the gesture to pay bonuses in US$ by the government is an indirect admission that the current wages and salaries are worthless. As labour, we believe the inescapable solution is for all employers to pay salaries and other benefits in United States dollars until the economic fundamentals are stable. We reiterate that the devaluation of salaries was as a result of government policy which, through the promulgation of Statutory Instrument (SI) 33 of 2019, converted US$ salaries to be at par with the Zimbabwean dollar equivalence and the SI subsequently distorted wages,” he said.
ZCTU said since all goods and services had their prices indexed to the US$, there was need to pay workers’ salaries in the same currency.