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Brussels, November 9, 1998 (ICFTU): Zimbabwean workers will observe a 24-hour general strike every Wednesday as from November 11 until the government reverses the 67 per cent increase in the price of fuel decreed at the beginning of November. The decision was announced on Saturday November 7 by the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions (ZCTU) which has demanded that the increase in the price of fuel be reversed until the government has discussed a report on corruption and fraud within the National Oil Company of Zimbabwe.

The ZCTU is also maintaining its demand for an across the board 20 per cent pay rise to compensate for recent increases in the price of basic consumer goods. Last month the government relaxed its tight control on prices, allowing the private sector to introduce rises of up to 40 per cent in the price of food products, including cornflour, the population’s staple food.

"We shall observe a stay-away every Wednesday, beginning this week" stated Morgan Tsvangirai, General Secretary "and we will continue until all our problems have been solved".

The ZCTU rejects the government’s claims that the price increases are necessary to ensure the viability of enterprises and to compensate for the sharp fall in the value of the local currency, which has lost 50 per cent of its value in relation to the US dollar in less than one year. The ZCTU believes the country’s economic problems are due principally to poor business management.

Back in March this year, a majority of the country’s workers stayed away from work for two days following a strike call by the ZCTU. The trade union was protesting at a 2.5 per cent rise in VAT. The extra tax was aimed at financing President Rober Mugabe’s promise of pensions for 45,000 former soldiers.

While the ZCTU’s membership stands at 400,000, its is able to mobilise in far greater numbers than its paid-up members. During strikes in December 1997 and March 1998, observers estimated that eight out of ten of the country’s formal sector workers obeyed the national centre’s strike call.

"We see pay rises as a temporary measure" stated Morgan Tsvangirai this weekend. "What we want is to be able to sit at the negotiating table with the government and the employers to find long term solution’s to the country’s problems" added the trade union leader.

It remains to be seen whether President Mugabe, under increasingly heavy criticism for its economic incompetence and authoritarianism, will take up the offer of dialogue. Last year, there was an attempt on Morgan Tsvangirai’s life following the first general strike. During the strike in March, the ZCTU’s Bulawayo office was destroyed by fire and the newspapers carried reports on plans to "delegalise" the national trade union centre...

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