Zimbabwe healthcare workers temporarily call off wage strike

25/6/2022 19:48

        Zimbabwean healthcare workers halted a five-day-old pay strike and returned to work on Saturday, but union leaders warned they would resume the walkout if the government failed to make an improved wage offer within two weeks.
        
        Thousands of nurses and doctors at state-run hospitals in the southern African country are demanding a hefty raise and wages in U.S. dollars due to a slide in the local currency and brisk inflation that has eroded the value of their earnings.
        
        They went on strike on Monday after rejecting a government offer to double their local currency wages, saying the 100% hike would not even compensate for annual inflation that jumped to 131.7% in May.
        
        "The leaders of the Health Associations ... have resolved to temporarily adjourn the industrial action and request the healthcare workers to resume service," union leaders said in a letter sent to government's Health Service Board on Friday.
        
        They warned that they would "have no option left but to withdraw service without notice" if the government did not offer "meaningful" salary hikes within the next 14 days.