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Lovemore Zigara, Business Correspondent
GWERU City Council workers have threatened to take their case back to the Labour Court after council last year unilaterally slashed their salaries without any engagement.

An arbitrator advised the parties to meet at the negotiating table.

The local authority at the time said the salary cuts were meant to reduce the local authority’s astronomical wage bill which stood at $1,5 million per month.
However, newly appointed Town Clerk Ms Elizabeth Gwatipedza said the salary cuts were insignificant as most of the 1 200 strong workforce had their remuneration reduced by margins ranging between $5 and $10.

She said the salary bill was unsustainable as it still gobbled $1,3 million per month against revenue collection targets of $2,4 million.

Said Ms Gwatipedza:

“This is the challenge that we have and the best way forward like we have been saying is to negotiate with the workers so that they have an appreciation of what is on the ground.

“The wage bill is still unsustainable and there is still need to reduce it further and if that is not an option, we need to find ways of raising revenue.”

“We also have a Government directive to comply with the policy to ensure that we direct 70 percent of our revenue to service delivery and 30 percent to salaries and as things stand, it means we will need to collect  more than $5 million per month to   comply.”

However, Zimbabwe Urban Council Workers Union national executive member Mr Kudakwashe Munengiwa threatened to take council to court accusing council of negotiating in bad faith.

“We tried to negotiate with council but there is no movement as they are digging in on their position that they were justified in cutting the workers’ salaries without following proper procedures.

“We are therefore left with no option but to go back to court since council is trying to defend an illegality,” he said.

The impasse between council and workers comes after the Government directed the local authority to further rationalise its salary structure which is gobbling a huge chunk of revenue at the detriment of service delivery.

— @lavuzigara1.