BY FIDELITY MHLANGA
ZIMBABWE’S banking sector workers are pushing for a 37,6% salary hike as salaries continue to be wiped out by rising inflation.
Currency volatility and inflation, which closed 2019 at 521%, remain an impediment to economic stability.
Banking employees now want to get a minimum of $5 800 from the current $4 214,25.
Government last June reintroduced the inflation-prone Zimbabwe dollar ending a 10-year dalliance with the multi-currency system.
Bank workers through their union, Zimbabwe Bank and Allied Workers Union (Zibawu) are set to meet with the employer’s umbrella body, Banking Employers Association of Zimbabwe (BEAZ).
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Zibawu secretary-general Shepherd Ngandu confirmed the development saying workers in the banking sector were not spared from the tough environment obtaining in the country, adding the Banking National Employment Council consisting of Zibawu and BEAZ were set to convene a meeting to deliberate on salary hikes next week.
“Banking sector workers are finding the going tough as their incomes are hardly enough to meet day-to-day cost of leaving. Our current interim minimum salary is $4 214,25. At banking industry level we will be meeting in the next week or two to conclude 2020 negotiations to raise our minimum to around $5 800. The agreement between parties was to conclude within this February, but maybe we may spill into the first week of March,” Ngandu said.